FISHES. 47 



of ily-fishing, and to my fancy is the pleasantest 

 element of success that can be used in any pur- 

 suit."* 



The scenes in which the angler pursues his 

 pleasant avocations are among the most delightful 

 that Nature yields. The broad river, meandering 

 through the meadows, here and there widening 

 into calm and placid pools, that reflect in mirror- 

 like perfectness the pollard-willows on the bank, 

 and allow the eye to trace without difficulty the 

 ruby-finned Roach and Perch, the gleaming 

 Chub, and the speckled Trout, as they play or 

 dart through the crystal element, cannot but be 

 delightful ; especially at that sweet season when 

 spring is just maturing into summer, when the 

 turf is full of scented flowers, the groves and 

 hedges, dressed in the freshest livery of yellow- 

 green, are pouring forth wild gushes of melody 

 from a thousand throats, and myriads of painted 

 flies and humming insects are enlivening the 

 scene around. Here the bottom-fisher delights 

 to station himself, quietly and patiently pursuing 

 his sport until his pannier is full, or his leisure 

 exhausted. And in such peaceful streams the 

 more presumptuous troller spins his minnow, and 

 calls his strength of limb and agility into exer- 

 cise, as he drags from his hole the ferocious 

 Pike. 



But the fly-fisher resorts to widely different 

 scenes. The swift torrent that pour's down the 

 mountain side, or roars along the narrow and 

 frowning ravine ; that here chafes and boils between 

 moss-covered rocks, and there dashes over a rocky 

 ledge in a sheet of foam ; now forms a chain of 

 * Ephemera on Angling, p. 6. 



