372 TROUT AND ANGLING. 



flies as is consistent with fact ; neither do we be- 

 lieve that the most killing will prove to be such 

 flies, as at the time the trout happen to be taking. 

 For on the contrary we have often noticed that a 

 totally different fly may be used with success, 

 and it may too, be unlike any insect in creation, 

 for which reason, they seem to give it the prefer- 

 ence. There are however certain general rules to 

 be observed, such as a dark fly for a bright day, 

 and a bright fly for a cloudy day ; a small fly for 

 calm water and a larger one for a rapid. The 

 great difficulty in fly making is in the wings, nay, 

 it is not only difficult but impossible to imitate 

 with anything like truth to nature, those little retic- 

 ulated gossamer transparencies, neither would the 

 flies be any better if we could. 



A judicious selection of feathers then is all that 

 can be done ; they have the advantage of any sub- 

 stance more delicate, which would not bear the 

 use. The smaller the fly the more difficult it is 

 to make, and this accounts for the artificial ones 

 being so out of all proportion ; though we do not 

 believe they are any the worse for it. Indeed it 

 would be a very difficult thing not only to procure 

 a hook sufficiently small, but to make a fly so very 

 minute as to be scarcely perceptible on the wa- 

 ter. It frequently happens, in a calm time, that 

 the surface is covered with an insect so small 



