56 SALM0N1A. [second day. 



principally of the carp kind : but the true fisherman's 

 flies, — those winch are imitated in our art, principally 

 belong to the northern, or at least temperate part of 

 Europe, and I believe are nowhere more abundant 

 than in England. It appears to me, that since I have 

 been a fisherman, which is now the best part of half a 

 century, I have observed in some rivers where I have 

 been accustomed to fish habitually, a diminution of 

 the numbers of flies. There were always some seasons 

 in which the temperature was favourable to a quantity 

 of fly ; for instance, fine warm days in spring for the 

 grannam, or brown fly; and like days in May 

 and June for the alder-fly, May-fly, and stone-fly : 

 but I should say that, within these last twenty years, 

 I have observed a general diminution of the spring 

 and autumnal flies, except in those rivers which 

 are fed from sources that run from chalk, and 

 winch are perennial — such as the TVandle, and 

 the Hampshire and Buckinghamshire rivers; in 

 these streams the temperature is more uniform, 

 and the quantity of water does not vary much. I 

 attribute the change of the quantity of flies in the 

 rivers to the cultivation of the country. Most of the 

 bogs or marshes winch fed many considerable streams, 

 are drained; and the consequence is, that they are 

 more likely to be affected by severe droughts and 

 great floods — the first killing, and the second washing 



