20 THE angler's dress. 



will reach, (and it seldom attaches itself higher,) 

 placing the scythe on the top of the rod, you 

 hook it on to the branch to which your fly 

 hangs ; then removing your rod and pulling by 

 the string, you can either cut away the branch, 

 if slight enough ; or at least, if the worst comes, 

 cut the gut close to your fly, and thereby save 

 straining your tackle. This I met with at Cole- 

 man's, the cutler, in the Haymarket, who de- 

 nominates it '' the angler's friend." A small 

 garden saw, knife, or hatchet, is not a bad thing 

 to carry about you for these purposes. 



A Twisting Machine and weight are abso- 

 lutely necessary for a salmon fisher who manu- 

 factures his own lines, &c. and I can only say 

 buy it at a good shop and see that it turns 

 smoothly and evenly. 



The Angler's Dress. — Perhaps I shall be 

 thought hypercritical in saying- that some con- 

 sideration is necessary as to piscatory costume. 

 Need I prove that one colour is more perceptible 

 than another? Need I point out the fact in 

 natural history, that fishes have eyes ! — that they 

 are shy, timid creatures ? White or black are not, 

 I think, much better than scarlet, and you should 

 avoid any marked colours, whether light or dark. 

 As far as my observation upon this point extends, 

 I have remarked that the colour least discernible 

 in the distance, is something of a light shade, 



