46 FOOD OF FISHES. 



habit of capturing? What natural insect do the large 

 flies, at which sea-trout rise so readily, resemble? 

 These, as well as grilse and salmon, frequently take the 

 lure far within the bounds of the salt-water mark ; 

 and yet naturalists know that no such thing as a salt- 

 water fly exists, or at least has ever been discovered by 

 their researches. Indeed, no true insect inhabits the sea. 

 What species are imitated by the palmer, or by three- 

 fourths of the dressed flies in common use? An arti- 

 ficial fly can, at the best, be considered only as the 

 representation of a natural one that has been drowned, 

 as it is impossible to imitate the dancing or hovering 

 flight of the real insect over the surface of the stream ; 

 and, even with that restricted idea of its resemblance 

 to nature, the likeness must be scarcely perceptible, 

 owing to the difference of motion, and the great variety 

 of directions in which the angler drags his flies, accord- 

 ing to the nature and localities of the current, and the 

 prevailing direction of the wind. 



'^ The same observations apply, with almost equally 

 few exceptions, to bait- fishing. The minnow is fastened 

 upon swivels, which cause it to revolve upon its axis 

 with such rapidity, that it loses every vestige of its 

 original appearance : and in angling with the par-taU, 

 one of the most killing lures for large trout, the bait 

 consists of the nether half of a small fish, mangled and 

 mis-shapen, and in every point of view divested of its 

 natural form. The accomplished angler does not con- 

 descend to imitate specifically, and in a servile manner, 

 the detail of things ; he attends, or ought to attend, 

 only to the great and invariable ideas which are inhe- 



