258 SALMONIA. 



Hal. — You are right, they never have 

 seen any thing like it before ; but, in its mo- 

 tion, it is like a large fly, and this is the sea- 

 son for large flies. The stone fly and the 

 May fly, you see, occasionally drop upon the 

 water, and the colour of your large fly is not 

 unlike that of the stone fly; but if, instead of 

 being here in the beginning of July, you had 

 visited this spot, as I once did, in the be- 

 ginning of June, you would have found 

 more difficulty in catching grayling here, 

 though not so much as in our English rivers 

 — in the Test, the Derwent, or the Dove. 



PoiET. — How could this be ? 



Hal. — At this season the large flies had 

 not yet appeared; the small blue dun was on 

 the water, and I was obliged to use a fly the 

 same as that which suits our spring and late 

 autumnal fishing. The fish refused all large 

 flies, but took greedily small ones ; and, as 

 usually happens when small flies are used, 

 more fish escaped after being hooked than 

 were taken ; and these I found, the next day, 

 were become as sagacious as our Dove or 

 Test fish, and refused the artificial fly, though 

 ihey greedily took the natural fly. 



