122 A RIVER OF NORWAY 



fly. There are days when they are jumping 

 all round one, but will look at nothing. When 

 they do take, they are not particular as to size 

 and pattern. They will, I think, take a larger 

 fly than a salmon, and a smaller. They are 

 certainly less "touchy." A salmon that has 

 risen at the fly, and felt the hook, will rarely 

 come again. A grilse (as Renan said of the 

 prophet Habakkuk) is capable de tout. He 

 will " pull " the hook again and again and 

 take it in the end. His appetite (or is it his 

 curiosity?) has a keen edge; and so he some- 

 times affords us sport, and he is always capital 

 eating ; but one never quite gets rid of the 

 feeling that it is a pity to kill him. 



