GRAYLING. 



281 



which is well known to be a delicate dish, and as such is 

 spoken of in the "Book of St. Albans," — "The Grayllynge, 

 by another name callyd Umbre, is a delycyous fysshe to 

 mannys mouthe," — is not an original native of our rivers, but 

 was at first imported from the continent, where it is more 

 common than with us; and hence that it was conveyed only 

 into such districts as suited the convenience of those who 

 brought it. We cannot affirm or deny this, but it is certain 

 that in no distant times some of our rivers have received it 

 from others, as is the case with the River Test, in Hampshire, 

 mentioned by Sir Humphrey Davy, to which it was brought 

 from the Avon not a great while since; and they have 

 increased in their new residences as freely as in their former 

 stations, but from some peculiarities in their nature it is only 

 in individual streams that the labour of conveyance is likely 

 to be accompanied with success. It may be, however, that 

 this may be caused by some known peculiarities in the 

 structure of this fish, together with some of its appetites; in 

 which it differs from the generality of the fishes of its family, 

 and which demand a combination of circumstances not usually 

 found in our rivers, but which will account for the fact that 

 no Graylings are known in England west or south of the 

 Avon, in Hampshire, or the branches of the Severn, in the 

 higher or Welsh portions of which, where this fish is well 

 known, it is little likely they should have been introduced 

 from a distance. 



The chosen stations of this fish are in swiftly-flowing but 

 not turbulent rivers, where the water is usually clear, and 

 always cool, but less than severely cold, with a clean and 

 sandy or pebbly bottom; and while it does not urge its way 

 upward so near the head as the Trout, and will not remain 

 long in a shallow depth, it requires also a succession of deeper 

 pools in softer ground, to which it may retire on a change of 

 season, for it wanders less, and even hides itself from sight 

 in winter. As regards some of its habits a comparison has 

 been made between this fish and the Trout, on account of 

 some degree of likeness that exists between them, but in which 

 the contrast appears as great as the similarity. To some 

 extent they feed on the same sorts of food; but the Minnow, 

 which is a chosen bait for the latter, is rarely taken by the 



VOL. IV. 2 o 



