20 WINTER TALKS ON SUMMER PASTIMES. 



If trout ever were in the river I can conceive of no reason 

 why they should not be there still, and if in waters where the 

 two fish are still found the trout are rapidly disappearing (as 

 is alleged) the mystery is all the more inexplicable. I wish 

 some one better acquainted with grayling and grayling 

 waters than I am would essay to solve this problem. 



"So much for the haunts of the grayling. Now a word 

 about their habits. I find them in just such spots as I 

 would look for trout in the early season on the riffs, at the 

 foot of rapids, under old logs and in all kinds of shady 

 places, but not often in deep pools. And they are like trout 

 also in the manner in which they take the fly, except that I 

 thought they did not come up as far out of the water as trout 

 sometimes do when they 'rise;' but they take the fly as 

 sharply, shoot off as rapidly and fight as gamely. They 

 make a more stout resistance at the outset than trout of the 

 same weight, chiefly because of the great dimensions of their 

 dorsal fin, which gives them a powerful lever when they 

 shoot across the current, as they usually do when struck. I 

 do not think, however, they have the trout's 'staying* qual- 

 ities, but they are all game, and afford the angler quite as 

 much sport as trout in any waters. 



"There is one thing about the grayling especially worth 

 mentioning the peculiar thyme-like aroma they emit when 

 taken. The ancient Greeks recognized this fragrant odor 

 in the fish. 'Hence its generic name Thymallus, which is 

 derived from Thumallus, the Greek term for thyme .' [Hal- 

 leek's Gazetteer, p. 335.] I had never heard of this peculi- 

 arity, and for a time I fancied myself moving through a 

 forest-garden of sweet smelling herbs. None of this aroma 

 is perceptible after cooking except to a very lively imag- 

 ination. In point of flavor, the grayling is the peer of the 

 trout. Indeed, neither in its haunts, its habits, its gamy 

 qualities or its flavor, is it at all inferior to that favorite 

 fish. If not as handsome when landed it is even more beau- 

 tiful in the water. In reeling one in, with the sun at a proper 

 angle, its great dorsal fin, with its blended body-hues of olive, 

 brown, rose, lame, green and pink, reveal all the dazzling 



