THE FAERY YEAR 



Even with gossamer casts and the smallest of artifi- 

 cial flies, it is very hard to deceive a trout in the 

 glare of the afternoon. In the hot, bright hours, 

 with the stream low and fine, the trout is really 

 critical and fastidious. It will rise leisurely on and 

 off through the afternoon at the water-flies sailing 

 down-stream. But when all is said about fine 

 tackle, the fact remains that the bunch of feathers, 

 tied with silken thread and sometimes brightened 

 up with gold or silver tinsel, cannot be a really 

 close imitation of the little insects, often with irides- 

 cent wings, the ephemeridae, which the fly-tyer copies. 

 Indeed, that a wary trout accustomed to feed every 

 day on the natural insect should at times be lured 

 so easily by the artificial, goes to prove that the 

 discrimination of the fish on the whole is, after all, 

 not so very nice. This is not a case, such as the 

 salmon's, of a fish taking a bright, quickly-moving 

 lure which is like nothing in Nature. Motives of 

 curiosity or excitement, mingled with the promptings 

 of hunger, may be at work there ; but here is a 

 trout mistaking the floating bunch of feathers dressed 

 on a half-hidden hook for the natural insect. 



In the evening, when light thickens, and the 

 earth cools, from some obscure cause there is usually 

 an hour or so, say, from eight till nine at the present 

 time, during which a little ephemera, the " olive 

 dun," hatches out in large quantities, and appears in 

 a winged state at the surface of the water. By watch- 

 ing often and intently, we can now and then see this 

 small fly suddenly appear at the surface. It is free 

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