2i8 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 ; on a 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 



