236 HIGHLAND SPORT 



I saw him dragged from the water by the cruel hook, only to 

 be ruthlessly knocked on the head, while the heartless, wicked 

 Foes fell to rejoicing over his body. 



" With deliberate design have I used the term insect, 

 although I am now well aware the Foe call these creatures 

 ' flies.' Of course to their eyes they may appear to be flies, 

 but certain it is to us salmon they seem to be water insects, 

 for the only resemblance they bear to anything on which we 

 feed in the sea is their glitter, their colour, and their liveliness, 

 by which three things they often remind us of the toothsome 

 shoals of the incessantly quivering fry of the sea fish ; more- 

 over, these insects of the Foe seem to be for ever trying to 

 elude pursuit, which fact alone acting on the mind of any 

 strong, healthy, hungry salmon is well calculated to excite the 

 desire to catch and examine the curiosity. Fly, forsooth ! It 

 is an insult to our intelligence to imagine the thing a Foe calls 

 a 'Jock Scott' or a 'Blue Doctor' can possibly be mistaken 

 for a fly by even the most giddy or inexperienced of grilse. 

 Neither are we so stupid as to take this so-called fly for a fish ; 

 we simply accept it as a water insect that may be good to eat, 

 because we are hungry, and well aware we must not expect to 

 find rich sea food in fresh water. In the words of your poet 

 Milton, we ' take it for a faery vision of some gay creatures of 

 the elements that in the colours of the rainbow live and play ' ! 

 At times it is the black with yellow body that tempts our 

 appetites, at others the pale blue colour wins the day for the 

 Foe. Likewise in certain weather and water, especially when 

 it is a big river with a cold atmosphere, we are more readily 

 persuaded to feed by the sight of large insects such as ' The 

 White Eagle ' and ' The Gordon,' and at such times I know 

 but too well both these flies can be used against us with deadly 

 effect. 



" Once again, however, do these two insects well demon- 

 strate the crass perversity of the Foe in speaking of them as 

 flies, for where in all the wide world is any fly resembling 



