218 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 
a little on every river—here, instead of a dun turkey, a grey 
goose supplied the feather ; there, it was the mottled scapular 
of a drake; ona third river, accident having provided a pre- 
ponderance of yellow wool, yellow became the indispensable 
colour, and so on. 
Next, anglers who had experienced chagrin and loss of 
fish from the uncertainly-tempered hooks obtained by the 
riverside, took to employing town tackle-makers to dress 
their flies according to the local patterns. The cost of these 
simple confections being not more than threepence or six- 
pence each, no honest tradesman cared to charge more than 
represented one hundred per cent. profit; so gradually they 
began to use more costly plumes. This was greatly to the 
advantage of the trade, for, strange as it may seem, anglers 
are so credulous a race that it takes no persuasion to convince 
them that there is some invincible attraction for British salmon 
in the feathers of Indian jungle-fowl or chatterers from 
Borneo which is not to be found in the plumage of our 
native birds. Absolutely contrary as this may be to experience 
(it certainly is so to mine) and to common sense, so strong is 
the conviction thereon that fishermen are content to pay from 
half-a-crown to seven-and-sixpence apiece for flies ; and, withal, 
to carry with them a vast number of varieties. Irrational as 
this is, it must be confessed that it adds very much to the 
fascination of the sport ; and surely the sport of angling itself 
is irrational in its essence, for he who desires to catch fish may 
attain his end more speedily and surely with the net than with 
rod and line. 
Casting the fly, as in trout-fishing, but on a grander scale, 
is by far the most exhilarating method of salmon-fishing, and is 
that which every true sportsman prefers when it is feasible ; but 
in very large rivers the labour becomes too monotonous for 
pleasure, and what is called in Scotland “ harling ” is resorted 
to. Two or three rods are placed in the stern of the boat, 
thirty yards or so of line are let off each, and the boat is allowed 
