Grayling in Trout-Rivers. 243 



enactment might afford; and to those evil-doers, 

 against whose practices such an enactment would 

 be specially framed, the presence of " winter fish " 

 in the stream would furnish ample occasion for 

 evading the law and rendering it virtually a dead 

 letter, For if grayling were allowed to be taken 

 during the period that trout were on the spawning- 

 beds, fishers whose reputation for honour was no 

 better than their reputation as sportsmen, would 

 not hesitate to take ill-conditioned trout while 

 ostensibly fishing for grayling. And during the 

 months of March, April, and May, when grayling 

 spawn and trout-fishing is good, would the ill- 

 conditioned grayling fare any better at the hands 

 of some trout-fishers ? As a matter of fact they 

 do not. They are very fond of worm ; and through- 

 out the trout - fishing season, from February to 

 October, I should say that probably more than one- 

 half of all the baskets taken from the Clyde are 

 composed of grayling. 



Seeing then that, whether regard be had to the 

 natural struggle for life between the fish, or to the 

 equally natural action of many who angle for them, 

 the safety and full development of the trout are 

 quite incompatible with the presence of the gray- 

 ling, surely, in the interests of fish and fishers alike, 

 it were well that a trout -stream be reserved for 

 trout, and a grayling-stream for grayling. This I 



