CHAPTER XXXI. 



THE GRAYLING. 



WE now come to the grayling or umber (Salmo fhymallus}. To all 

 students of nature, the beauty and the historical, no less than physical, 

 associations of this fish render it extremely interesting. To the angler, 

 in regard to the sport its capture affords, it ranks next the trout, if, 

 indeed, in some cases it does not take precedence of this fresh-water 

 autocrat. 



The appearance of this fish is superbly beautiful; the engraving 

 conveys a satisfactory idea of its outline, symmetry, and general 

 characteristics, but of course does not exhibit the hues and various 

 colours variations to be observed in the real grayling as it dies on the 

 bank. A far abler pen than mine has described the fish, and I quote 

 the description. 



Eonalds thus speaks of it : "A general tint, which may be called a 

 light blue silvery grey, pervades nearly the whole surface of his body, 

 excepting the belly, which is white, or nearly so, but the scales often 

 exhibit iridescent lines of great beauty. The back and head are of a 



much darker grey Some lines of brown are intermixed with the 



grey of the sides, and a few black spots are seen near the shoulder. 

 The back fin has a purplish tint, studded with large dark spots; the 

 other fins are not so red as those of the trout, but have more yellow- 

 brown in them, shaded off with purple ; the tail is a kind of slate 

 colour." Of course, ample and, indeed, sufficient for the purpose as 

 this piece of word-painting is, nevertheless, as I have before observed, 

 the grayling must be seen to be appreciated. Its iridescence on some 

 occasions, as it lies panting after a more than usually courageous 

 combat, becomes extremely beautiful. Apropos of this iridescence, my 

 readers generally may not quite know on what it depends. We are told 

 by Sir David Brewster, in his "Treatise on Optics," that "it is obvious 



