THE WATER-COLLEY. 129 



bottom, every trout was visible, even those under the 

 roots of trees and the hollow of the bank. A cast with 

 the fly there was useless ; the line would be seen ; 

 there was no ripple to hide it. As the trout, too, were 

 in the pools, it might be concluded that those worth 

 taking had fed, and only the lesser fish would be found 

 in the eddies, where they are permitted by the larger 

 fish to feed after they have finished. Experience and 

 reason were all against the attempt, yet so delightful 

 is the mere motion and delicate touch of the fly-line on 

 the water that I could not but let mj^self enjoy that 

 at least. The slender lancewood rod swayed, the line 

 swished through the air, and the fly dropped a few 

 inches too high up the rapid among the stones — I had 

 meant it to fall farther across in the dark backwater 

 at the foot of the fall. The swift rush of the current 

 carried the fly instantly downwards, but not so quick 

 as to escape a troutlet; he took it, and was landed imme- 

 diately. But to destroy these under-sized fish was not 

 sport, and as at that moment a water-colley passed I 

 determined to let the trout alone, and observe his ways. 

 Colley means a blackbird ; water-colley, the water- 

 blackbird or water-ousel — called the dipper in the 

 North. In districts where the bird is seldom seen 

 it is occasionally shot and preserved as a white black- 

 bird. But in flight and general appearance the water- 

 colley is almost exactly like a starling with a white 

 neck. His colour is not black or brown — it is a rusty, 

 undecided brown, at a distance something the colour 

 of a young starling, and he flies in a straight line, and 

 yet clumsily, as a young starling does. His very cry, 

 too, sounds immature, pettish, and unfinished, as if 



