THE GRAYLING, AND BAIT-FISHING FOR. 431 



of which are otherwise suitable. Such a pond, of an acre or 

 so in extent, exists to my knowledge within a few miles of 

 Ludlow. It is fed by a fine spring, and the grayling which were 

 put into it, I have been assured, both thrive and fatten won- 

 derfully. Unfortunately a reference to my notes does not enable 

 me to say whether they also breed. As a rule it has been 

 found by experiment that even in ponds where they will live 

 — such as those, for instance, newly cut in hard soil or which 

 have been recently and thoroughly cleaned — they do not breed. 



Of the counties producing these fish, probably Herefordshire 

 and Shropshire contain the best, as they certainly contain the 

 most celebrated streams ; the former includes the Teme,Lugg, 

 Wye, and Arrow, and the latter the Clun and the Teme, dis- 

 tinguished as the head-quarters of the well-known Leintwar- 

 dine Club. 



In Hampshire and Wiltshire, the grayling is found in the 

 Test, Wharf, and in both the Avons ; in Staffordshire, in the 

 Hodder, Trent, Dove, Blythe, and Wye ; in Derbyshire, in the 

 Dove ; and in Merionethshire, in the Dee, between Curleen and 

 Bala ; in Lancashire, in the Ribble ; Yorkshire, in the Der- 

 went, Yore, Wharfe, Rye, Swale, Costa, and Dove ; Berkshire, 

 in the Kennet ; Scotland, Clyde and (perhaps) Annan. 



'Grayling,' observes Mr. H. R. Francis, 'are oddly distri- 

 ' buted in the British Isles. I know of few in Scotland or 

 ' Ireland, while in England the streams haunted by them seem 



* capriciously distributed in groups according to no traceable rule. 

 ' Yorkshire has many, chiefly to the north and east ; Derbyshire 

 ' many ; Lancashire, as far as I know, only the Ribble. South- 

 ' ward, after an extensive hiatus, we have the grayling streams 

 ' of Shropshire, and Herefordshire, and again not a few in the 

 ' south of South Wales. There are good grayling in several of 



• the principal Hampshire streams, and I think I have heard of 

 ' a few in Wiltshire, but in the centre and south-east of England 

 ' they are not to be found.' 



Of the above grayling waters by far the finest streams are 

 the Dove, the Lugg, the Test and the Teme. The last-named 



