THE COMMON BROWN TROUT. 231 



The Green. Hackle, dark green ; body, darkish green sewing silk 

 lightly waxed with colourless wax ; whisk cut end of hackle. 



The Brown. Hackle, fiery or cinnamon brown, not claret brown ; body, 

 dark orange sewing silk well waxed with cobbler's wax, and then drawn 

 tightly between the finger and thumb ; whisk cut end of hackle. 



The Yellow. Hackle, dark golden olive ; body, golden yellow sewing 

 silk lightly waxed with colourless wax ; whisk cut end of hackle. 



The remarks here made do not refer in their entirety to salmon, as 

 will be seen in the chapter on that fish ; but they do for grayling in toto. 

 The only suspicion of justification for this arbitrary use of certain colours 

 is to be found in " Blacker 's Art of Angling." I quote the passage, 

 because of its excellent precept : " I have always found the natural flies, 

 of every size, to have a tinge of green throughout the year; and the 

 greyish colour of the flies in the spring months is precisely the same in 

 the latter end of the season. The angler should examine the natural 

 flies at all times when he is on the stream, and if he perceive that they 

 have a tinge of green, he should mix a little with his standard colours, or 

 if the body of the fly is made of floss silk, he should place the green at the 

 shoulder, underneath the hackle, and judge of the shade of green he 

 should use by the appearance of the natural fly." 



As I have fully indicated in the foregoing, I adhere to the Ronaldian 

 theory and practice in fly fishing, and, therefore, would imitate, as far as 

 might be, the flies upon the water, or in its neighbourhood, at alltimes, 

 in preference to using the so-called typical nondescripts created by 

 Mr. Pennell. Even Stewart's adherence to a few colours in the half- 

 hearted paragraph before quoted compromise though it may be between 

 the " typical " theory and that of Ronald's to my mind shows a narrow 

 and unphilosophical judgment on the part of a great angler. The fact 

 is, any fly will kill if sufficiently gaudy, but why ? As I have before 

 pointed out, it is because of its novelty and attractive freshness. Curiosity, 

 lust of the eyes as Bunyan calls love of finery any such notion may 

 possess a trout for aught I know. The salmon is a great and convincing 

 example of this curious desire on the part of fish. Mr. Pennell' s flies act 

 alike upon salmon and trout ; they excite the inquisitiveness, hence they 

 in a measure are successful. Salmon, satiated with a plethora of good 

 feeding, like an old Roman gourmand, longs for any novelty to " tickle 

 the brute force within the" fish into action. A novelty tantalises it 

 and it dashes forward, and lo ! a hook holds it. It is thus with the trout ; 

 but is this legitimate fishing ? and is it not possible to take undue advan- 

 tage of constitutional weakness as well of a fish as a man ? 



The imitation of many flies cannot be mischievous, and is sure to be 

 regulated by the means and experience of the imitator or angler. If the 



