GRAYLING. 
261 
whicli is well known to be a delicate dish, and as such is 
spoken of in the “Book of St. Albans,”— “Tne Grayllynge, 
by another name callyd Utnbre, 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 
