THE FLY FISHER'S GUIDE. 75 



given to this fish from the gray silver colour of 

 its sides ; that of umber to be derived from the 

 Latin umbra, a shadow, which the rapidity of its 

 motions authorizes, inasmuch as, when swim- 

 ming, it darts with such velocity as to give the 

 semblance to the eye of the flitting of a shadow, 

 rather than the actual movement of an animated 

 substance. 



The grayling is longer, and not so round as the 

 trout, and somewhat resembles the dace in form : 

 it seldom exceeds sixteen inches in length, has 

 no teeth, but the lips are rough like a file. 

 When in season, the back is of a dark colour, 

 nearly approaching to black, and the sides gray : 

 the head is rather small, with prominent eyes. 

 When first taken out of the water they have a 

 peculiar smell, said to be occasioned by their 

 feeding upon water thyme, whence the Latin 

 name Thymallus is supposed to have been given 

 to them. For flavour, they are preferred by 

 many to the trout. They are most in season in 

 the winter ; but even at the time of spawning, 



