AN ORTHODOX AUTHORITY. 59 



wings are upright on the body, and whilst they 

 are on the water, it is almost in vain to attempt 

 the use of any other fly. Therefore, as they vary 

 in the shade of their body, it is advised to use 

 three of this form, but of different sizes and 

 colours, at the same time, which will ensure suc- 

 cess to the angler.' Mr. Bainbridge is an ortho- 

 dox authority acknowledged by every practical 

 angler. He is perfectly right in advising the use 

 of differently coloured March-browns, because 

 the hue of the male differs from that of the 

 female. 



Why are duns in general use ? Because they 

 are imitations of the ephemera family, the most 

 common and most killing water insects. It is 

 not because they are nondescripts ; and he who 

 has the best dun hackles of various hues, dressed 

 in the neatest way over bodies varying in colour, 

 as the natural flies do, according, I am justified 

 in saying, to wind and weather, will meet with 

 the surest success. For my own part, I seldom 

 fly-fish for trout or grayling without some sort of 

 dun on my line, and I am guided by the shape 

 and colour of the dun-fly on the water. Some 

 species or other of dun-fly is on the water through- 

 out the fly-fishing season. 



I find in ' The Encyclopedia of Eural Sports,' 

 some passages so full of sound sense on the subject 

 of natural and artificial flies, that I cannot resist 



