

Striking. 249 



to seize it. Should a grayling miss your fly on its 

 first rise, it may make many more attempts to 

 secure it than a trout would do. Give it no 

 occasion to upbraid you with 



" Stay, my charmer ! can you leave me ? " 



until you have given it just cause to complete the 

 couplet 



' ' Cruel, cruel, to deceive me ! " 



Strike immediately on the rise, but, remembering 

 the " lady " of the delicate lip, strike as gently as 

 possible. I have already spoken of its fighting 

 or non-fighting qualities, and I have only to add 

 on this point that, notwithstanding the averments 

 of others, my experience in the capture of thousands 

 of grayling fully bears out the opinion expressed 

 long ago by that practical authority, Cotton, that 

 "the grayling is one of the deadest - hearted fish 

 in the world, and the bigger he is the more easily 

 taken." 



In the Clyde grayling spawn in March and April, 

 and occasionally in the early part of May, deposit- 

 ing their roe among gravel at the tails of streams. 

 The ova are, like those of the herring, very small 

 and very prolific. The young fish grow rather 

 rapidly until they weigh 1 or \\ lb., and then 

 their yearly increase is not so decided as in the 

 case of trout. The maximum weight which they 



