FLY FISHING FOR TROUT AND GRAYLING. 287 



a cushion for the tail, may be indefinitely varied, but the colour 

 of the wings and legs needs no variation. I should class them 

 all as ' nondescripts,' because, though bearing a general resem- 

 blance to insects occasionally seen, I have never caught on or 

 near a lake a fly of which any one of the four can be fairly 

 called an imitation. 



S 5 



5. Bright red landrail wing, yellowish red hackle and body. 

 This fly is, I think, improved by a second hackle with some fine 

 gold twist carried palmer-fashion down the body. Without this 

 adjunct it closely resembles a red sand fly, larger and brighter 

 than usual. I employ it only in lochs such as Ericht or Fruchie, 

 where there is a fair sprinkling of char, for which loveliest of 

 Salmonidcc it seems to have a special attraction, particularly if you 

 sink it deep and move it slowly. 



I was much struck some time since by a passage in Mr. 

 Black's * Yolande,' where his hero casts expressly for a brace 

 of char. He has perfectly worded the results of my own 

 experience. 



6. A wingless fly ; black hackle, shoulders ostrich herl, body of 

 warm orange silk. This fly I have occasionally found most killing, 

 especially in rocky tarns, and in mountain streams with a bed of 

 rock and stony gravel. I believe it represents a black-sharded, 

 orange-bodied beetle frequent about such waters. I have named 

 it ' Chaloner's Pet,' in honour of the inventor, a frequent angling 

 companion many can it be fifty ? years ago, and whom I still 

 rejoice to hear of as wielding a deadly rod on Loch Awe. 



