Use of Golf Clubs
A. T. W. McCaul (Collins, Kew and Co.); Nisbet's Golf Year Book, edited by J. T. Low (J. Nisbet); The "Irish Field" Golfer's Guide for Ireland, edited by L. Hewson, Dublin.
GOOSE, WILD. - Six species of wild geese are more or less commonly met with in the British Islands. These are the Grey Lag, the Bean, the Pink-footed, the Whitefronted, the Bernicle, and the Brent goose. In addition to the half-dozen enumerated, there are some others which may be looked upon as rare or occasional visitors, and in this class may be placed the Red-breasted and the Snow goose; whilst two subspecies, the Lesser White-fronted and the White-bellied form of the Brent goose, may also be regarded as of this class. Others might perhaps be deemed to have the right to inclusion in the list of British geese, but as some of them-notably the Canadian and Egyptian geese-are now kept in a [GOLF state of semi-domestication in various parts of the country, the occurrence of really wild visitors is always difficult to determine.
The Grey Lag Goose (Anser cinereus) is our only resident wild goose. It breeds in the north of Scotland, in the counties of Ross, Sutherland, and Caithness, as well as in the Hebrides; formerly in Islay, and still in North Uist; but is, notwithstanding, the scarcest of our wild geese. This perhaps may be partly accounted for by the fact that it prefers a more temperate climate than the rest of the British geese, its breeding haunts and winter quarters being generally situated further to the south than theirs. are In England and Ireland it is only a winter GREY LAG GOOSE. visitant, although until the end of the eighteenth century it used to breed annually in our fens.
Professor Newton divides the grey geese into two groups: in the first the "nail" at the tip of the bill is white, or of a very pale flesh colour, and in the second this nail is black. To the white-nailed division belong the Grey Lag and the White-fronted goose, and to the black-nailed group the Bean and Pink-footed goose.
The bill of the Grey Lag has a white tip or nail, the other portions, and also the legs, being pale pink or flesh-coloured. A light ashen coloured patch of feathers on the shoulder is a distinguishing feature of the plumage, and by this means alone the bird may be recognised at some little distance.
The breast of this bird, usually of a plain grey colour, has sometimes dark feathers, as the White-fronted goose. The Grey Lag measures from thirty-three to thirty-five Archibald After Archibald Thorburn.
UNAPPROACHABLE GEESE.
GOOSE, WILD] PAIR OF WHITE-FRONTED GEESE. inches from tip of bill to end of tail, and weighs from 8 lb. to 10 lb.
The White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons) comes to us in winter, but is not perhaps quite so regular in its visits as the other grey geese. Both in appearance and general characteristics this goose is more nearly allied to the Grey Lag than either the Bean or the Pink-footed goose. It is generally to be found in the vicinity of marshes. The breast in adult birds of this species is barred with dark feathers, and the bird takes its name from the white frontal margin of feathers at the base of the bill. The nail of the bill is white, the rest being orange, as also are the legs and feet.
The White-fronted goose is the smallest of our grey geese; it measures about 27 inches in length, and weighs from 534 lb. to 61/2 lb. length, and wing 15 inches. It is a rare straggler to the British Islands, and solitary examples have been shot at intervals between 1886 and 1900 in Northumberland, Norfolk, and Somersetshire.
The Bean Goose (Anser segetum), another winter visitor, is a hardier species than the Grey Lag, its breeding haunts, and also its general winter habitat, being much farther to the North. It generally prefers the marshland grasses to the uplands, and does not take such extended inland flights as its greyer relative the Pink-footed goose. In England it may usually be found grazing upon the young clovers and growing corn not far away from the coast line. In Ireland it is the commonest grey goose, and LESSER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE.
The Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anser erythropus) is a diminutive form of the White-fronted goose, about 21 inches in BEAN GOOSE. this fact goes to prove that it is more a marsh-feeding species than the Pink-footed goose. Seven and a half to eight pounds is a good weight for a Bean goose, but in open winters, when food is plentiful, some have been killed weighing 9 lb., and upwards.
Length about 33 inches. The nail and basal portion of the bill are black, the rest orange, as also are the legs and feet.
The Pink-footed Goose (Anser brachyrhynchus), as its Latin name indicates, has a shorter bill than the rest of the grey geese. The nail of the bill in this goose is black, the middle portion as well as the legs and feet being pink. Occasionally adult birds are found to have a white band of feathers at the base of the bill, similar to, although not generally quite so deep as, that on A. albifrons. The light shoulder patch is present in old birds, but it is not so pronounced as in the Grey Lag Goose. Of AA 2 or all our migratory birds, summer winter, none are more regular in the date of their arrival than the Pink-footed geese. In East Yorkshire they arrive on or about September 25, with unvarying punctuality. By that date the harvest is usually completed, and the geese visit the stubbles day by day to feed upon the scattered corn. Pink-footed geese are remarkably local in their distribution, confining their visits to certain circumscribed areas where peaceable possession of the food they most desire is to be obtained. Barley is their favourite grain, and so long as this is obtainable they will not leave the stubbles; on its exhaustion they turn to the young clover and the tender blades of the [GOOSE, WILD PINK-FOOTED GOOSE. autumn sown wheat, with marsh or other grasses for a change. Pink-footed geese usually weigh about 1/2 lb. less than Bean geese, and measure 30 in. in length.
The Snow Goose (Anser hyperboreus) is a rare visitor to this country. As this goose is more numerous in North America than elsewhere, it is not singular that it should have been observed more frequently in Ireland than in Great Britain; but it has been met with in Northumberland, Cumberland, and East Yorkshire. The plumage of this bird, snow-white with black quill feathers, is sufficiently conspicuous to attract attention wherever it goes. It may, therefore, be taken for granted that it occurs very sparingly in this country.
The Bernicle Goose (Bernicla leucopsis) visits this country in considerable numbers, but in winter evinces a partiality for certain districts, notably the west coast of Scotland and some parts of Ireland, and seldom strays far from those haunts, save under exceptional circumstances. It may be said HYBRID SNOW GEESE.
A. to form a connecting link between the grey geese and the Brent geese, for it is seldom to be found far away from salt water, although not so strictly marine in its tastes as the Brent goose. The Rev. H. A.
Macpherson has given an interesting description of its habits on the Cumberland coast in his Fauna of Lakeland. It weighs about 5½ lb. and measures 25 inches in total length.
The Brent Goose (Bernicla brenta) is the best of all the geese from both the gastronomist's and the punt-gunner's points of view. It is very rarely seen inland, being Herbert Shark BERNICLE GOOSE. strictly marine in its tastes; but in extremely rough and snowy weather these birds occasionally get blown out of their course. Brent geese commence to arrive about the end of September, or beginning of October in the north of Scotland, but GOOSE, WILD] the majority of them do not reach these shores until November. They depart for circumpolar breeding haunts about the end of March or beginning of April. A white-bellied form of the Brent goose (Bernicla brenta glaucogaster) is sometimes met with. Thousands of Brent geese are to be found in winter in suitable localities around our coasts. Their numbers are always considerably augmented during any protracted spell of hard weather by fresh arrivals from Northern Europe. The principal food of the Brent BRENT GOOSE. goose whilst here is the roots of the grass wrack (Zoctera marina), which grows upon the mudbanks in most estuaries and along the open coast. When the tide leaves these mudbanks the geese alight to feed upon this weed, and, where they are not subjected to much persecution by puntgunners, will remain upon the rising of the tide until the roots of the grass can be no longer reached. From this habit it acquired the name rut-goose or root-goose. measures 22 in. to 25 in. in length, and weighs from 32 to 42 lb. a It The Red-breasted Goose (Bernicla ruficollis), about the size of a Brent goose, has been obtained about a dozen times in the British Islands. The plumage of adult birds is strikingly handsome, black, white, and rich chestnut predominating.
According to Seebohm the Red-breasted goose, so far as is known, is confined during the breeding season to the tundras in some parts of Northern Siberia. This goose would seem to be equally exclusive in its choice of winter quarters, for up to the present it is known to spend the winter only on the large Asiatic inland sea, the Caspian. Length about 22 inches.
GOOSE-SHOOTING.–Wild-goose chasing has sometimes been mentioned slightingly from want of experience, for few who have once indulged in the sport of wild-goose shooting would vote it either slow or void of interest. One reason why this sport is so inspiriting is that it has an accompaniment seldom found in other branches of sport in which the gun has a part. This is the wild music of the flock.
The clamour of a large "gaggle" of geese, heard from a distance, has been likened to the cry of a pack of hounds. Certainly, the ringing chorus of a good-sized skein of Pink-footed geese, uttered as they sweep through the air, is a sound as exhilarating to the wildfowler as hound-music to the foxhunter.
In order the more readily to discuss the question of wild-goose shooting, it will be as well to place the six commoner species of British geese in two divisions, the grey and the black. The first division includes the Grey Lag, Bean, Pink-footed, and White-fronted, and these in a general way may be looked upon as inland-feeders; the second division, Bernicle and Brent geese, are coast-feeders.
The grey geese usually rest at night upon mud and sandbanks, or higher saltings in the wider estuaries or along the open coast; or upon islands on the larger inland sheets of water, as well as in secluded spots upon the moors and bogs. From thence, in open weather, they take daily flights of greater or less extent to feed inland. Of all the grey geese the Pink-footed goose is perhaps the greatest lover of corn, i.e., corn in the ear, and to obtain this particular food these birds will fly many miles out and home, morning and evening. The Grey Lag and the Bean goose prefer the vicinity of the coast, and the White-fronted goose is even more particularly a marsh-haunting bird.
The Bernicle, also, has a preference for the marshes, spending his time chiefly by the sea.
Brent geese are essentially sea-going fowl; seldom, indeed, are they to be found out of sight of salt water. The favourite food of Brent geese is the roots of the sea-grass (Zostera marina), and where this is abundant, and its quiet enjoyment may be obtained, on our eastern coasts at all events, the black geese are usually to be found.
Judged by the nature of their surroundings and habits, it seems but natural that a considerable percentage of the grey geese killed in this country should fall to the shoulder gun. With Brent geese, however, it is different, for, as these fowl must in a general way be approached by water, it happens that by far the greater number are killed by the punt-gun. Where they are much followed, the Brent geese will not be found to incur many risks by moving over the saltings, their farthest landward flights seldom extending beyond the mud flats uncovered at low water. By digging a hole, or sinking a cask well out upon the mud flats, the shoulder-gunner may have some sport in stormy weather or, what is equally good, in a thick fog. When [GOOSE, WILD such pursuit to be futile. In the grey dawn or evening twilight they may be occasionally outwitted by stealing upon them as they rest on the sand or mudbanks of their night haunt. But the heaviest shots at grey geese are usually made on dark nights, when carefully-laid plans and a well-timed shot into a flock of geese, as they rise in the dark with a sound like thunder, will often fill the punt with dead birds. On these occasions a goodly proportion of the birds falling to the shot cannot be secured in the gloom, and they should be searched for in likely situations, according to set of tide and direction of wind, at daybreak the following morning. This method of shooting more or less by sound for very little can be discerned in the darkness necessary SCULLING OUT TO BIRDS. one is properly equipped in long wading boots and suitable clothing, the discomforts attending this method of shooting are not great, and, certainly, the exciting nature of the pursuit well repays the fowler for any extra trouble in suitably fixing his position. Lambeth Public Libraries In punting to geese, the gunner proceeds in either a single or a double-handed punt.
For this purpose the latter is, all things considered, the best; as one then embarks in a roomier and more seaworthy boat.
This is of first importance on the open coast, where a heavy sea may spring up quickly. In the more sheltered situations the narrower single-handed punt answers well, and is easier to get about in. It is usually extremely difficult to approach within gun-shot of Brent geese in mild weather, and in this pursuit, as in nearly all shooting with the punt-gun, success is best attained during prolonged frost.
Grey geese will seldom allow a punt to approach them when on the water in the day-time. Seasoned punt-gunners seldom trouble after them in daylight, well knowing to secure a close approach to these wary birds-is, however, usually pursued by gunners who shoot for a living; the amateur prefers to note the result of each shot, and the shooting by guesswork in the dark certainly robs the sport of half its pleasure. For full particulars as to dimensions and style of punts, double and single-handed, the reader may be referred to the works named below. This remark applies also to punt-guns, of which, both muzzle and breech-loading, there are many varieties, as well as several ingenious methods of fixing them up so as to ease the recoil on firing. (See also PUNT SHOOTING.] In districts much frequented by grey geese excellent sport may at times be obtained with the shoulder gun. By waylaying them as they take morning and evening flights to and from the feeding ground, some geese may now and again be killed, particularly when a head wind keeps them near to the ground. In still weather they usually fly at a good altitude, taking care to keep well up out of gunshot.
Another and more successful method of GOOSE, WILD] obtaining sport with grey geese is to conceal one's self on the night haunt of the game. When too often followed, this will, of course, cause the geese to seek quiet in other quarters, but an occasional night spent with the geese in this way is often prolific of sport of a most exciting character. Now and again a skilful stalker may approach within shot of grey geese as they feed on the fields; but as the stalking of wild geese needs a combination of favouring circumstances not always obtainable, it cannot be always relied upon as a means of obtaining sport.
All things considered, driving is the most successful plan to adopt when following grey geese inland. Properly managed this is most exciting sport, for both gunner and driver will, perforce, have to undertake many long and arduous stalks. Geese, like other fowl, rise against the wind; and, knowing this, the shooter endeavours to conceal himself within shot of the line they will take on being disturbed by the driver.
As this place of concealment must be to windward of the geese, it follows that the utmost caution must be observed in securing such positions. The approach must be carefully planned, as must that of the driver, and the planning and execution of these strategical movements are not by any means the least exciting parts of the business.
Guns and Ammunition. - It is sometimes found that heavy shoulder guns of large calibre are absolutely essential to success in goose-shooting. In a wild, open country, geese are not easily approached, and in such situation a powerful 8- or 4-bore gun will prove most effective. In these guns weight, to a certain extent, means power; and as they have not to be carried far as a rule, a single 4-bore for goose-shooting may well weigh as much as 18 lb. From a fully choked gun of this weight 3/2 oz. of large shot will be delivered with deadly force at 80 to 100 yards, up to which distance geese may regularly be killed. If an 8-bore is chosen, this may be a double-barrel, weighing 15 lb. or so. From a gun of this weight 2/2 oz. of large shot may be fired from each barrel with comfort. The large shot known as A.A., counting 40 pellets to the ounce, is a suitable size to use for goose-shooting, at ranges of from 80 to 100 yards. At shorter distances B.B., of 58 pellets to the ounce, will answer. Many shooters pin their faith to the use of coarse-grained black powder in heavy shoulder guns, but in suitable cartridge cases the nitro-powders answer admirably. They are not nearly so noisy as black powder, and the report of the heavy gun has a much less disturbing effect upon the fowl. A stout double 12-bore is a very handy weapon to use in some situations, particularly when visiting the night haunts of the geese. A gun of this sort, weighing 72 to 8 lb., will carry up to 1/2 oz. of No. I or B.B. shot, and may be used with deadly effect upon geese at fifty yards.
Clothing is a matter of first importance, A DOUBLE-HANDED GUNNING PUNT, FULLY EQUIPPED. for to the improperly clad sportsman the pursuit lacks half its pleasure, to say nothing of the needless risks to health incurred by reason of a faulty system. In the sport of wildfowl shooting much waiting about in the cold is often necessary. We may take a hint from nature in deciding that for warmth, health, and comfort, nothing beats pure wool for wear next the skin. Let the foundation at all events be wool; and if the weather be very cold, and two or three layers of clothing are worn, the lower stratum should be of wool also.
The outer covering, too, may be of wool in fine weather, but for wet work gabardine is excellent wear, and, being very light, does not impede one's movements so much as a thicker material. This is a matter of much importance where a gun has to be handled. In bitterly cold weather, particularly when icy winds pierce one to the marrow, a leather jacket may be worn as an overall with an infinite degree of comfort. On other occasions the latter form of clothing is superfluous, and perhaps also unhealthy. Ordinary shooting boots may be worn on most occasions when following geese inland. But proper wildfowling rig must be donned for shooting upon the mud flats. In such situations long leather wading boots may be worn two sizes too large to enable an extra pair of thick woollen stockings to be put on, without which the gunner would suffer much from cold feet.
HENRY SHARP.
Bibliography.-A History of British Birds, H. Seebohm (Porter), 1885; British Birds, W.
Yarrell (Van Voorst), 4th edition, 1885; A Manual of British Birds, Howard Saunders (Gurney and Jackson), 2nd edition, 1899; A Handbook of British Birds, J. E. Harting (Nimmo), 1901; A Dictionary of Birds, A.
Newton (A. and C. Black), 1896; Instructions to Young Sportsmen, Lieut.-Colonel P. Hawker (Longmans), 11th edition, 1859; The Wildfowler, H. C. Folkard (Longmans), 4th edition, 1897; The Fowler in Ireland, Sir R. Payne-Galwey (Van Voorst), 1882; Letters to Young Shooters, Sir R. Payne-Galwey (Longmans), Ist series, 2nd edition, 1894-2nd series, 3rd edition, 1902-3rd series, 1906; The Art of Wildfowling, Abel Chapman (Cox), 1896; Practical Wildfowling , Henry Sharp (Upcott Gill), 1895; The Geese of Europe and Asia, S. N. Alferaki (R. Ward), 1905.
GORAL (Urotragus goral and U. bedfordi). The two Himalayan gorals form GORAL. one of the connecting links between the goat and antelope tribes. A full-grown buck stands from 27 inches to 28 inches on sturdy, goat-like limbs. The colour of its a [GORAL short, rough coat is dark grey in one species, and brown in the other, with a distinct white patch on the throat. Both sexes carry short, black horns; those of a good buck are about 7 inches long, with a slight GORAL (BUCK). lawell curve backwards, and nearly 4 inches in basal circumference. They are rather irregularly annulated up to about half their length. The doe's horns are thinner, less distinctly annulated, and usually shorter.
Both kinds always affect craggy and precipitous heights, which may or may not be forest-clad. During the day they usually lie up in some secluded nook, but they feed on steep grassy slopes among the crags until late in the morning, and again towards evening. The writer has shot goral as low as, if not lower than, 4,000 feet in the outer ranges, including the higher crests of the Siwaliks; and as high as about 10,000 feet in the higher ones, not very far below the perpetual snow-line, and on the same ground with tahr. They are more or less common all along the Himalayan ranges from Kashmir to Nepal.
A goral has acute powers of sight, scent, and hearing, and its disposition is suspicious, wary, and timid. Yet, after being disturbed, or even shot at, and missed, it will frequently perch itself on some prominent crag, emitting at short regular intervals its note of alarm, which may be compared to a word spelt "tschick"-pronounced short and sharp. It usually returns, in course of time, to its favourite haunts, after being driven from them by being fired at or even wounded.
One November morning the writer wounded one of a small band of goral.
It went off with its companions, but the GORAL.] telescope showed that a fore-leg was broken at the knee. In November of the following year a similar band of goral was found on almost exactly the same spot, out of which one was killed. This animal had a stiff knee-joint, evidently the work of a bullet, but the bones had reunited in a long lump, and the writer had no doubt it was the identical animal he had wounded the previous year.
As regards its characteristics, the goral may be said to take the same place in the Himalayas as the chamois does in the Alps.
And goral-hunting on the precipitous and craggy heights of the middle and outer ranges, where there is enough hard climbing to give it zest, is most charming sport. Moreover, the sportsman has seldom to score the blank days which are so common when after grander game on the higher ranges and in Tibet.
A double express rifle of 450 bore is about the best for goral, as well as for all other Himalayan game animals.
DONALD MACINTYRE.
GRASMERE SPORTS.- [See LOCAL SPORTS.] GRAYLING. - (Salmo thymallus, Lin.; Thymallus vulgaris, Cuvier, Yarrell, and others.) Name and Origin. -The contentions associated with the name of the grayling are interesting rather than important, and the good St. Ambrose of Milan was both safe and happy in pronouncing it the flower of fishes, apparently in reference to its manifold tints and to the odour which is supposed to have induced Ausonius to dub it Thymallus. Few men can be found to agree as to the specific perfume which is discernible in handling a newly caught grayling in normal condition, and the fact is that in very large or very small specimens it is less strong than in a grayling of the herring size, which is the average upon many rivers. The smelt yields precisely such a faint suggestion of cucumber, or thyme, as that which the majority of observers claim for the grayling, and as a rule it is unmistakable, if not easily defined.
The suggestion has been thrown out that the odour of the grayling varies with its diet.
The French call the grayling L'Ombre Commune, and Umber, or its corruption Oumer, is an old English local name. As to the word "Grayling," it has been referred to the gray lines along the sides of the fish. The prevailing hue of Salmo thymallus, as it appears in the water, is grey. The observer who, looking over the parapet of a bridge, has the opportunity of seeing a trout and a grayling lying on a shallow not far apart, will be struck with this distinguishing tone, by contrast with the rich ruddy brown of the former; and when the grayling moves away, it is like the fading of a pale shadow, very different from the brisk dart into cover of its darkerhued companion. There appears to be no sound foundation for the belief that the grayling was originally introduced into England from the Continent. Until the early part of the present century it was not widely distributed, but even in Walton's lifetime the Dove, Trent, and the Wiltshire rivers were known to contain grayling.
In our own time the fish has been introduced to the Clyde and Ayr, and is found in numbers in the Tweed. It is further to be observed that the grayling is not the only British fish of merely partial distribution. The burbot, the gwyniad, the vendace, and the chars may be classed with the grayling in this respect, and there is on the whole no justification for the assumption that the fish is not indigenous.
Appearance and Habits. The grayling resembles certain of the coarse fishes in form rather than the Salmonida of the more orthodox type, and the small, unarmed, square mouth, suggesting suction, is formed somewhat like that of the groundfeeders, the protrusion of the upper jaw being sufficient to give it character without constituting deformity, as in the barbel. Its most striking peculiarities are the huge dorsal fin and the lozenge or pear-shaped eye. The bright red, shading to violet, of the edges of the fin, and the red and black of the sides, with purple streaks irregularly marked, have warranted comparison with the wing of a butterfly. In repose, the delicate upper fringes of this fin lap curiously over, betraying the identity of the fish should the other characters be indistinct.
The tail is forked and powerfully formed.
The scales are small and clearly defined, and the grey longitudinal lines are peculiar to this species. The colouring of the fish varies greatly according to age. Few descriptions of the grayling agree in detail, and indeed the difference between the fish of different ages, and different districts, is very marked. A pound grayling from a Derbyshire or Yorkshire river is probably a type of the best, while one of the big two-and-a-half- or three-pounders from the Southern chalk streams is almost invariably a dull presentment, the purpling of the grey vesture having changed to brown, and the rainbow hues having practically disappeared.
The grayling differs considerably in size according to the rivers which it inhabits.
A pound fish in Derbyshire, Yorkshire, or Worcestershire is considered worthy of special regard, and a panier of a dozen and a half will often have but one of such [GRAYLING havoc upon the ova of trout, and to some extent no doubt this does occur. The grayling, however, are, at that period, in the deep, slow running water, while the trout have pushed up to the rapid streams flowing over the gravel. The extent of damage, therefore, done to trout eggs is very inconsiderable, though, when spawners are コ ココ BRINGING A GRAYLING TO THE NET. respectable bulk. Occasionally larger fish will be taken. In the Hampshire rivers, to which the species has been introduced during the present century, two-pounders are common. There is little doubt that grayling of 4 lb. have been taken with the fly, but there are no authentic records of weight and measurement. A specimen of 3 lb. 9 oz. from the Test was shown at the Imperial Institute Exhibition in 1897, and another of equal weight when out of condition was taken by Mr. Halford in 1909. The habits of the grayling differ in some important respects from those of the trout, and in balancing the one against the other, it is essential to bear this in mind. The grayling, for example, is a spring spawner, moving to the breeding-shallows towards the end of March, or even as late as the beginning of May. It is said that the grayling, being free from domestic concerns in mid-winter, when the trout spawn, works busy, some few grayling and coarse fish may be seen in the neighbourhood of the redds waiting for the few unburied eggs which may be brought down by the stream.
Another important consideration is that the grayling is a fish of quick growth, but not so rapid as Sir Humphry Davy believed when he wrote that fish hatched in May or June grew to nine or ten inches in length by September. Although the fry of the grayling, when early hatched, is so minute that a purchaser who had received a consignment is said to have imagined that the can contained nothing but water, within little more than a couple of months they are four or five inches long.
The grayling also produces a larger number of eggs than the trout, so that in a stream favourable for the fish, the increase is likely to be proportionately greater.
As a Game Fish. - The merits of the GRAYLING] grayling as a game fish may not be quite equal to those of the trout, but, all points considered, they come so near that there is little margin for dispute. The trout fights fiercely and with a dash peculiar to its breed, but the grayling fights, in its way, just as strenuously and as perseveringly.
The slower movements after the first rush lead some critics into the mistake of supposing that the fish is chicken-hearted, and a remark of Walton (who probably had no large experience of its character) has given the cue for that verdict. The grayling, in fact, ranks well amongst our British nonmigratory freshwater species, and it may take even longer to bring to the net than a order of procedure is under any and every circumstance to fish the stream methodically. This is especially successful on the stone-bedded North Country rivers, where the absence of aquatic vegetation signifies dearth of insect food. Otherwise the grayling is as much a dry-fly fish as the trout, and should be treated in a similar manner.
The strongest plea for the grayling is that it keeps the fly-rod going months after the end of the trout season. The grayling may be caught from the middle of July to the middle of February; but a secure and unexceptionable limit would be August Ist to New Year's Day. It seems strange that some anglers do not place these absolute GRAYLING (MALE). trout of the same size. It leaps out of the water occasionally, and if its charges into the stream are not so swift, it has an artful and dangerous habit of rolling and twisting, and of boring downwards, that is very trying to tackle and nerves. 66 It must also be placed to the credit of the grayling that it rises freely, and is not easily put down." It is an axiom of the dry-fly angler that a trout generally rises but once to the artificial fly; as long, however, as the grayling continues to rise, so long may the artificial fly be cast, and it is no uncommon result to kill your fish at the eighth or ninth time of presentation. There is nothing more full of concentrated sport than to kneel to a grayling which refuses again and again, yet is taken at last. It must be added, however, to this tribute to the grayling's generous spirit that the fish often makes ostentatious movement at the lure, without intending to take it. The grayling is a master of short rising. On all but the very "shy" chalk streams, it may be risen, if such a term is permissible, against its will. The best baskets are often made by the wet-fly fisherman on days when there is no visible sign of a rising fish, and the [By courtesy of J. Bernard. advantages-namely, three months of additional sport, and a possible dish of great excellence for the table when salmon and trout are off " against drawbacks that are mostly theoretical. 66 دو a Tackle." Fine and far off" is the rule with grayling as with trout. The same rod, line, and fine gut collar go with the same waders and other items of equipment. It is the fly-box that must be slightly refurnished. Practically, the o and oo sizes of the best trout patterns are admirable for grayling, and to them are added a few fancy flies which imitate no insect known to entomology. The red tag is indispensable, though it is beginning to be discussed in doubtful terms, and variations are ventured upon because the original dressing, so many years infallible, is supposed to have been found out by the grayling on Itchen and Test. It may be laid down as a rule that the selection of artificial flies which are pronounced best by local authorities is sound, and that the floating duns of the South, the bumbles and wet flies of the Midlands, and the spidery hackles of Yorkshire have their distinctive functions. Among the books indicated at the end of this article are representative pronouncements as to flies-Halford and Rolt for the Southern dry-fly waters, Pritt and Walbran for the North, Foster for the Midlands.
The special grayling flies which may be here described are not numerous, and they are generally patterns characterised by the bit of tinsel or glitter by which the indigoblue eye of the grayling is attracted; and almost without exception they will serve either wet or dry, and in most waters. The best tags are the red, the orange, and the macaw; the claret, yellow, orange-claret, and furnace bumble are of almost equal value, but should be tied on, at the most, [GRAYLING allowing them either to bore to the bottom, rolling and gyrating the while, or to work below the angler and bring fins and tail to bear against the stream. The outer edges of the mouth are tender, and no doubt less calculated to retain the hook than the hard interior of a trout's jaws, but the large number of breakages is not due so much to this cause as to the short rising propensities of the fish, and the consequent light hooking in the weaker portion of the mouth. When the barb is well struck into the solid, the hold is really of the firmest kind, and there is no abnormal danger of breaking away.
It seems wicked to angle for a generously GRAYLING (YOUNG FEMALE). oo hooks; and flies of the little chap order, the curses, black gnats, Hammond's adopted, Wickham's fancy, silver sedge, red and claret spinners, and at all times the hare's ear with gold or silver twist, should be in use. Amongst grayling patterns of modern times are Brunton's fancy, witch, and dazzler. The grayling seldom rises, as trout do, in the evening, and the best fishing will be found between eleven and five o'clock in and after September.
The grayling does not forage in solitary determination, but ever wanders in company. The fish move from the deep pools at varying times to the adjacent shallows, and it is never very certain where they may be, except that they are seldom in rough ripples.
The rise of a grayling is so often a mere dimpling of the surface that it is never wise to be contemptuous of the sign, and abandon a position on the supposition that the game is not worth the trouble of tempting. A two-pound grayling frequently makes no more fuss than a dace. Fortunately for the angler, the grayling generally makes his first rush up stream, and there is little fear of his making direct for the weeds. The fish should be firmly held, turned, and kept moving down stream until his powers are exhausted. Grayling are frequently lost by [By courtesy of J. Bernard. rising fish like the grayling with any other lure than the artificial fly, but it is often done, and there is the somewhat especial excuse in this instance, that, upon many rivers where fly-fishing would be useless in the winter, weeks and months of sport are afforded by certain methods of bottomfishing. Some of these are purely local, others are more widespread. 66 66 most Grasshopper Fishing." - The singular instance of a local bait in all angling is probably the so-called grasshopper" of the West Country. In Herefordshire, Shropshire, and Worcestershire, perhaps one of our best grayling districts, this so-called "grasshopper" is still used, and has been used from time immemorial.
It is not a grasshopper at all, though originally it may have been intended to imitate that summer insect. A large hook is used (No. 5 or 6), weighted with lead wrapped around the shank. This is in turn overlaid with Berlin wool of primary colours, green predominating, with yellow bands, until the affair resembles affair resembles a gaudy and clumsy chrysalis. Upon the hook five or six maggots are impaled, and the game is to "sink and draw" as it is technically termed. The lure, such as it is, is allowed to dive to the bottom, and is then slightly a GRAYLING] jerked up and down as the stream bears it onwards. It is, for grayling, what the oldfashioned trolling bait was for pike, and very clever some of the West Country anglers of the old type are at this primitive method. The largest and best fish are taken in this way, but on well-preserved waters, it need scarcely be said, it is prohibited. Such baskets are not made nowadays as those recorded by Francis in his Book on Angling, when a single rod could fill a 25-lb. or 30-lb. basket two or three THE TATE LIBRARY BRIXTON, S.W.
It a tiny pear-shaped float affixed two or three feet from the hook. A small red worm is used for bait, and the angler, wading along the edge of the stream, allows his lure to swim so as to touch and go upon the clean bottom of the aforesaid shelf. is a method requiring much caution and skill, and although the fish will not always bite, this style is found amply to repay the fisherman for the wintry weather to which he is exposed. December seems to be the favourite month for this form of sport, 00 OD DIAGRAM OF MALE GRAYLING SEEN FROM ABOVE. [By courtesy of J. Bernard.
DIAGRAM OF FEMALE GRAYLING SEEN FROM ABOVE. times in one day. The grotesque "grasshopper" has fortunately been found wanting when experimented upon in the north or south, and it is not regarded with respect by the true angler. Why the grayling should take it is not very apparent, but the fish is rather erratic in its tastes.
It is not by any means fitted with mouth or teeth to indulge in fish food, but instances have been known of grayling following and being caught fairly in the mouth by artificial minnows, and upon the Costa, which is one of the well-known grayling streams of Yorkshire, a fly dressed on the pattern of the Alexandra, but on a small hook, is often more killing than the correct grayling flies.
Swimming the Worm. The most sporting method of winter bait-fishing is probably that of swimming the worm, as described by Mr. F. M. Walbran, who was its leading exponent on the Ure and Wharfe, and by the late Mr. Pritt, whose Book of the Grayling was the first monograph on the subject. Grayling love to lie in herds along the gently sloping sandy shelf of a fairly strong stream, and in about four or five feet of water. The angler is equipped with a rod slightly stiffer than that used for fly-fishing; a short collar of drawn gut, attached to a freely running fine line, and [By courtesy of J. Bernard. and the angler prefers hard and bright frosty weather. The grayling thus treated bites very gently, seldom taking the float under, and the expert fishermen recognise the slightest slant of the painted cork as an indication for striking. It is necessary to keep out of sight while this swimming process is carried on, and a quick strike and firm hand are essential to success. When the fish are feeding greedily, the float disappears wholly, but the only indication is frequently the abrupt stopping of the float, as if it had been caught in a weed. All these movements are to be explained by the habits of the fish. If the small red worm is travelling close to the bottom, the sucking mouth of the grayling arrests it, and it is then that the float merely halts. The fish will rise, however, to the worm as it is floating overhead, and it is tolerably certain that its sudden disappearance is the result of a grayling forced to rise a foot or so upwards to seize the morsel on its passage.
The grayling will also take gentles, waspgrubs, and caddis bait, and, in the waters where these methods are possible, the best baskets are made on occasional days of midwinter fishing when the grayling are in their best condition. Fly-fishing is the only method permitted on the choicest grayling waters.
Range. The grayling, with a few structural differences, occurs in many of the Continental rivers, and in nearly all the lakes and rivers of Northern Europe. It is found in the United States, and in parts of Canada. In England it has been introduced into numerous trout rivers, for some of which it is not suited.
Typical grayling streams are the Test, Itchen, Wiltshire Avon, and the tributary Wylie; the Dove, Derwent, Wye, and Manifold in Derbyshire, and the higher waters of the Trent; the streams of Worcestershire, Shropshire, and Herefordshire, some of which, such as the Lugg, Teme, and Arrow, are associated with grayling fishers of a past generation; the Clyde, Tweed, Ayr, and Tay in Scotland; the Dee in Wales. The rivers in which the grayling are still in the experimental stage are the Thames, Lea, Colne, and Kennet. In the more rapid streams of the Midlands and West Country, where the alternating pools and rough streams are frequent, the grayling loves the gliding heads, tails, and sides of strong currents, and so sharp is its vision, and so adapted to such movements are its air-bladder and fins, that it will rise almost perpendicularly from a depth of five or six feet and secure the passing fly.
MEASUREMENTS, &c. -Length of head 5/4 to 6, of caudal fin 6, height of body 474 to 5 in the total length. Eyes-diameter of each 4 in the length of the head, 14 diameters from the end of the snout, and about the same distance apart. Upper jaw very slightly the longer; the posterior extremity of the maxilla reaches to beneath the anterior edge or first-third of the orbit.
Teeth-fine ones in the jaws near the head of the vomer, and on the anterior portion of the palatines; none on the tongue. Finsthese vary with the sex; the last dorsal rays are somewhat produced in adults. The first dorsal fin commences midway between the end of the snout and on a line above the front edge of the anal fin, the height of its rays being about two-thirds of that of the body below it. Pectoral inserted in the lower fourth of the height, and as long as the head excluding the snout. Ventrals situated beneath the middle of the rayed dorsal fin, and comparatively small, terminating on a line below the hind edge of the adipose dorsal. Caudal forked. Scales -in regular rows, some small ones being present over the basal portion of the caudal fin. The chest, or that portion of it as far as the pectoral fin, may be entirely destitute of scales or else scaled. Colours-these during life are beautifully changeable; head [GRAYLING of a bluish-purple and a golden tinge along the back, while the horizontal lines along the body are dark, and each of the scales has a golden tinge. Dorsal fins with purplish bands and ocelli, which have a purplishred centre, and there are likewise some purplish streaks along the courses of the rays, while the outer edge is likewise purplish.
Occasionally there are some black spots on the fins, also scattered over the body. The brighter colours decrease with age, and grey lines show themselves along each row of scales; while the young have transverse bars or bands.
Day's British Fishes, vol. ii., pp. 131.
WILLIAM SENIOR.
Bibliography. -Grayling and how to catch them, F. M. Walbran (Angler Co., Scarborough); Fly-fishing for Salmon, Trout, and Grayling, Ed.
Hamilton, M.D. (Sampson Low and Co.); A Book on Angling, Francis Francis (Longmans, Green and Co.); Dry Fly Fishing in Theory and Practice, F. M. Halford (Sampson Low and Co.); Making a Fishery, F. M. Halford (Horace Cox); Book of the All-round Angler, John Bickerdyke (L. Upcott Gill); The Compleat Angler, Izaak Walton (Part 2); The Book of the Dry Fly, G. A. B. Dewar (Lawrence and Bullen); The Badminton Library (Salmon and Trout) (Longmans, Green and Co.); Salmonia (7th day), Sir Humphry Davy (John Murray); The Rod and the Line, Wheatley (Longmans, Green and Co.); The Scientific Angler, David Foster (Bemrose and Son); The Sporting Fish of Great Britain, Cholmondeley Pennell (Sampson Low and Co.); British and Irish Salmonida, Dr. Day (Horace Cox); The Book of the Grayling, T. E. Pritt (Goodall and Suddick, Leeds); North Country Flies, T. E. Pritt (Sampson, Low and Co.); British Angling Flies, Michael Theakston, revised and annotated by F. M. Walbran (Sampson Low and Co.); The Yorkshire Angler's Guide, Tom Bradley (Tom Bradley, Leeds) Grayling Fishing in South Country Streams, H. A. Rolt (Sampson Low, Marston and Co., 1905).
GROUSE.-Grouse (Tetrao scoticus) are found in parts of Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and England. In Scotland they are pretty general wherever heather exists. In Ireland they are by no means as numerous as in Scotland, owing largely to the systems of steady poaching which obtains in that singularly improvident country. In Wales they are spread over a comparatively small area, while in England at the present time the great bulk of grouse-bearing grounds are the northern counties and Derbyshire.
Attempts have been made from time to time to introduce this bird into other parts of England where the surroundings seemed to be suitable, but little success has attended these endeavours. The Hon. Gerald Lascelles, Ranger of the New Forest, informs me that, previous to his tenure of office there, experiments were made to GROUSE] X Y X GROUSE DRIVING. THE END BUTT. further this object by putting grouse eggs into the nests of black game, of which a certain number still are to be found in the New Forest. But no satisfactory results ensued.
Natural History. The "Red Grouse " is a singularly handsome and attractive bird. His weight is about 19 oz.; but one may be found to weigh as much as 29 or even 30 oz.; the length is about 15 inches.
The general colour is, in the cock-bird, deep reddish-brown, while the hen is somewhat less conspicuous in hue, and the tone of her [GROUSE to lay, and the eggs take about three weeks to hatch.
A dry season is the best for nesting purposes, so long as there is a good supply of young heather. The winter of 1895 was one which proved singulariy fatal to grouse both young and old. On many moors the intense frost and prolonged snow SO damaged the heather that portions of the moors did not recover till the following year.
The young heather either failed to come up at all, or did not appear till many weeks after the usual time, thus depriving sitting GROUSE IN FLIGHT. plumage quieter and more sombre. A brilliant scarlet patch is arched over each eye, and the throat is of a reddish colour.
Considering this bird from every point of view-of sport, of culinary excellence, of appearance, and of the charm of the scenery amongst which it lives it very properly occupies a special and eminent position among the game birds of these islands.
The average number of eggs laid by a grouse is seven, though fourteen or fifteen have been found in a nest, and possibly even more. The colour of the eggs is a pale olive, blotched thickly with dark reddishbrown. The hen sits on the eggs, and I am not aware that a cock-bird has ever been known to relieve his mate in her onerous duties in this respect. The early part of April is the period when grouse commence hens, and young when hatched, of their customary and necessary food. The old heather plants were also in many instances so killed down as to be of little use to the grouse. For these reasons hundreds of birds died on some of the English moors. also happened in Scotland and elsewhere.
Grouse are largely dependent on a sufficient water supply existing on a moor. A very dry moor is rarely a good one.
This Shooting. The legitimate methods of killing grouse are two:- (1) Shooting them over dogs, and (2) Driving them to the guns.
In Scotland the system usually followed is the one first mentioned; and the reason for this is easily comprehended, as the steep nature of much of the ground on which grouse are to be found in that country GROUSE] renders driving them a difficult and comparatively unproductive process, and one which it is often almost impossible to carry out satisfactorily in consequence of the difficulty of obtaining, in the sparsely inhabited districts of the Highlands, an adequate quantity of men to act as drivers. There are, however, a considerable and increasing number of Scotch moors on which driving is now regularly resorted to, and on which large bags are obtained. The moors belonging to the Mackintosh at Moy; those in the valley of the Don; at Drumour, in Perthsporting shots than can as a rule be obtained when driving a reasonably level stretch of moorland. In fact, a day's driving on wild, steep, and mountainous Highland ground, which produces some fifty to seventy brace to five or six guns, is, or should be, as gratifying to the sportsman as a day of 250 or 300 brace on an easily managed and flat moor in one of the more southern counties.
In England, on the other hand, driving is nowadays the almost invariable practice; and this is so for various reasons. In the GENERAL VIEW OF A GROUSE MOOR SHOWING THE POSITION OF THE BATTERIES. shire, and many other moors, both in the Highlands and the Lowlands, have been carefully shot in this manner for some years past, with steadily improving results, and the season of 1910 was one of the best grouse years on record. These, of course, are tracts of country of a comparatively level nature.
Driving. It should be said, however, that most excellent and exciting sport may be obtained by driving moors which do not apparently lend themselves naturally to such a proceeding. That is, instead of being flattish in their conformation, they consist of the sides of steep hills, narrow corries, and generally broken and uneven ground. Under circumstances such these, grouse come over the guns at every kind of height and at every sort of angle, thereby affording far more difficult and