188 SALMONIA. [SEVENTH DAY. 



of the young ones ; but in the end of July, or 

 beginning of August, they are of the size of sprats, 

 four or five inches long, and already sport merrily at 

 a fly. Though I have often taken grayling in bad 

 season, yet I have rarely observed upon them the 

 same kind of leech,* or louse, which is so often found 

 upon the trout ; from which I infer, that they seldom 

 hide themselves, or become torpid in the mud. The 

 grayling hatched in May or June, I conclude, become 

 the same year, in September or October, nine or ten 

 inches long, and weigh from Jive ounces to half a 

 pound; and the year after they are from twelve to 

 fifteen inches long, and weigh from three-quarters to 

 a pound ; and these two sizes, as you have seen, are 

 the fish that most usually rise at the fly. The first 

 size in this river is called shote, which is a Celtic 

 word, I beli eve applied likewise in the west of England 



* I may mention one remarkable instance as an exception, which 

 has recently occurred to me, the 21st of May, 1828. I was fishing in 

 the Save, between Wochain and Veldes, in some deep, clear, bright, 

 green pools. I caught five or six grayling between 15 and 17 inches 

 long, that had all leeches near the tail ; they were beautifully 

 coloured, and had probably got these parasitic animals after their 

 spawning, when they reposed. Of course this was the time when they 

 were in their worst season, as they were just beginning to recover 

 from the work of generation. At this time they often rose at and 

 refused the fly, but there were as yet no large flies on the water. The 

 leech was a small greenish dark worm, about an inch or an inch and a 

 half long, like a common leech in form and colour. 



