ON THE GRAYLING. 23 



deep pools or lakes. They require a combination 

 of stream and pool ; they like a deep and still 

 pool for rest, and a rapid stream above, and 

 gradually declining shallow below, and a bottom 

 where marl and loam is mixed with gravel ; and 

 they are not found abundant except in rivers that 

 have these characters/' 



The Rev. Mr. Low says : " The Grayling is 

 frequent in the Orkney Islands, as it is in Lapland 

 and Switzerland ; but it is rare in Scotland, and 

 confined in England to the Avon near Salisbury, 

 the Ure near Fountain's Abbey, the Dee between 

 Corwan and Bala, and the Dove ; also the Trent, 

 the Wharfe, the Humber, the Rye, and the Der- 

 went." 



The Grayling is seldom known to take the 

 Minnow, and I have never found any in his 

 stomach, although I have taken out many Larvae 

 covered with cases of sand, and some having six 

 stones attached to each, as also Larvse when in 

 the Nympha state. I have always found flies, 

 and those principally of the more delicate sorts 

 of Ephemerae. 



He rises with great velocity and almost per- 

 pendicularly to seize his prey, at the top of the 

 water, and descends as quickly after making a 

 summerset, for the performance of which feat 

 the figure of his body and the great dorsal fin 

 seem well adapted ; his agility on this occasion 



