THE G1UYLING. 169 



nondescript kind of fish. If I may say so without irreve- 

 rence, he seems to have been turned out of hand before it 

 was clearly determined what definite form he should ulti- 

 mately assume. To my eye he is in shape suggestive of 

 the barbel, especially as to his somewhat " Roman nose," 

 and also of the dace as to his elongated body and " silveri- 

 ness," while his back fin, which looks as if it were 

 " spinous," suggests that he was originally intended to 

 be a member of the perch family. 



The very extreme weight of a grayling in our waters 

 may be put at 5 lbs., one scaling this weight having been 

 recorded as taken near Shrewsbury some years ago. A 

 4 lb. fish very seldom falls to the angler's lot ; and there- 

 fore Mr. T. L. Parker's three grayling taken in the Avon 

 near Ringwood, which together weighed 12 lbs., will for 

 ever be handed down in piscatorial annals. As a rule, the 

 fly-fisher for grayling must be contented with a very occa- 

 sional two-pounder, with a few pounders, and an average 

 of half-pounders, I mean taking together the result of two 

 or three seasons on different rivers. It is the smaller fish 

 which rise most freely at the fly, the leviathans feeding 

 mainly on animal supplies in the depths below or the 

 more substantial " waifs and strays " of midwater. 



Doggerel rhymes or the more sober prose memoranda 

 of history generally supply us with the authors and date 

 of the introduction into this country of various commo- 

 dities animate and inanimate. The monks who 



" Made glide kail 

 On Fridays when they fasted," 



have the credit for importing the grayling into our 

 waters ; but it may be doubtful whether they are entitled 



