PREFACE. xill 



of the subject to understand it — in short, one which pre- 

 supposes no knowledge on the part of the reader. It should 

 also, in my opinion, be free from crotchets, for a crotchet is 

 a fixed idea which arises from lack of experience. The 

 crotchety angler is usually right so far as his own stream 

 is concerned, and in forcing his ideas upon us he forgets or 

 is ignorant of the fact that streams, like opinions, differ. 

 I well remember once puzzling over the word "tag" in 

 the description of a salmon-fly. In the work in which it 

 occurred no explanation was given, and on consulting two 

 others, I found in one the tag described as the tail, in the 

 other as the portion of the body next the tail. This sort of 

 thing is maddening to beginners, and I hope I have been 

 guilty of few such offences. I am not the right person to say 

 whether or no I have attained my ideal, but my work has 

 been a true labour of love, and, in the words of a certain 

 careless Irish fisherman whom I once had the misfortune 

 to employ : " I've done me besht, and what can a man do 

 more ? " 



JOHN BICKERDYKE. 



