134 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



has not seen before, will rouse his interest, when 

 roach, dace, and bleak cannot tempt him. Put 

 the string of your bait-case round a stump, and 

 sink it in the water ; you know that he is there 

 but declines to feed. But ask the boy at the 

 mill to get you a young half-fledged sparrow 

 out of the cart-shed thatch, and to kill it for 

 you ; then take off your float, if you have been 

 using one, and hooking your dead sparrow in 

 the middle of his back, let him go gently. 

 There he goes, his little stubby wings out and 

 his legs apart, just as if he had tumbled out 

 of a nest and was sinking head downwards. 

 Look ! it is out of sight now ; and away shoots 

 the line you have your fish right enough, and he 

 has got his sparrow. In fair all-round fishing, if 

 one, or, for the matter of that, if every one of 

 these different baits fail, try something which 

 fish do not see very often, even if it be only a 

 mouse. Those artificial monsters called pike- 

 flies will answer for a time, if used under favour- 

 able conditions ; but the so-called fly will have to 

 be changed as soon as its novelty has worn off a 

 bit. All that a pike-fly hooks will not be landed, 

 and after a time the intended victims get to 

 know the look of the feathery fraud, and, refusing 

 to be deceived, will have none of it. The gentle 



