98 



where we sit, the wood-pigeons coo softly in the trees, and 

 the wandering voice of the cuckoo comes down from the 



wood above, 



" At once far off and neai'." 



It is a mistake, Avhen May-fly fishing, to hurry over good 

 water, that you know holds large fish. They rise fitfully, 

 as a rule, but when you have marked one down, lay siege to 

 him, and j^ou will get him eventually, provided you under- 

 stand your business. There was a big boil in the middle of 

 the slow running pool, a few minutes ago, and we have 

 mounted a new hackled " gem," carefully anointing it 

 with vaseline, to increase its buoyancy. Taking advantage 

 of a passing cloud over the sun, the tempting morsel of 

 wood-duck and steel is dropped a couple of feet above the 

 spot where the fish rose ; and he takes it with a bold head 

 and tail rise, like that of a salmon. Down he goes, like a 

 submerged barge, when he feels the hook, boring about on 

 the bottom, and making nastj?- snatches on the line, that are 

 very trying to a light rod ; but this wee bit of split cane has 

 killed a grilse in its day, and who's afraid ? Giving him all 

 the butt we dare, the trout is kept moving. He has 

 notions of his own as to the best methods of defence, and 

 stubborn resistance is the policy that commends itself to 

 his judgment — it's " dogged as does it," thinks he. But 

 the cruel pressure of that ten feet of glued-up bamboo rind 

 presently begins to tell its tale, and the tremulous vibra- 

 tions of the little rod reveal this fact. For fully the 

 quarter of an hour this struggle goes on, and then the fish 

 gives in, unconditionally, rolls to the surface, and is 

 scooped out — -a good three-pounder. But the fight was a 

 poor one, when compared \^-ith that made by his neighbour 

 whom he joins in the basket. We wander on, and pick up 

 a fish here and there, returning most of them, as being 

 below our standard, and then go mooning about, bird's 

 nesting, insect hunting, and generally wasting time that 

 ought to be devoted to the catching of trout. But the 

 angler-naturalist — be he ever so keen a fisherman — has eyes 

 and ears for all that goes on around him, and the man who 



