184 Bass, Pike, and Perch 



where the water is rapid, though unbroken, the 

 bottom being dark obsidian sand, with a succession 

 of pools and shallows. I have taken fish weigh- 

 ing two pounds in Beaver Creek, in the upper 

 canon, which is also an ideal stream. Such sit- 

 uations are peculiarly adapted to the grayling, 

 being preferred to the broken water of rocky 

 streams so much favored by trout. 



The Montana grayling is a trimmer-built fish 

 than its Michigan cousin, being not quite so 

 deep, proportionally, and with larger scales. Its 

 dorsal fin is about the same height, but with one 

 or two less rays. 



Its back is gray, with purplish reflections ; sides 

 lighter, with lilac, pink, and silvery reflections ; 

 belly pearly white. It has a few irregularly- 

 shaped black spots on the anterior part of the 

 body, but none posteriorly as sometimes on the 

 Michigan grayling. It has two oblong dark 

 blotches in the cleft of the lower jaw, and a heavy 

 dark line running from the ventrals to the pectoral 

 fin ; these markings are more pronounced in the 

 male, being quite faint or wanting in the female. 

 The dorsal fin has a rosy-red border, six or seven 

 rows of roseate, roundish spots, ocellated with 

 white, and gray blotches form lines between the 



