SHAPE AND COLOUR OF GRAYLING 249 



a chance cast, allowing the fly to sink, and caught 

 a fish. I cast again, and was again successful. 

 Before I left the pool I had a pile of fish beside 

 me, which gave me some trouble to carry home. 

 All were good, and some of them rather over 

 than under two pounds. They were all taken 

 with the olive dun. 



Though somewhat hog-backed, a grayling is a 

 very handsome fish, and by no means deficient 

 in grace of outline. Nor can anything exceed 

 the beauty of its colouring when in the full bloom 

 of condition. Grays and browns are all exquisitely 

 blended together in every variety of these colours ; 

 the large back fin is like the most delicately- 

 marked tortoiseshell, the richest madder taking 

 the place of brown, and contrasting perfectly with 

 the dark-green-coloured back. The mouth is 

 very small in comparison with that of a trout, and 

 is shaped like the bell of a trumpet. It is very 

 delicate and tender, and, in consequence, easily 

 torn by the hook. Hence, as I have remarked, 

 the necessity for the fish being carefully handled 

 when hooked. 



One of the best, if not the very best, of our 

 Hampshire fishermen remarked to a friend of 

 mine that he had, after years of experience, come 

 to the conclusion that, so far from considering 

 grayling-fishing inferior to that of trout, he pre- 

 ferred it to the latter. Not only because the 



