1 8 THE DRY FLY AND FAST WATER 



see our old familiar streams again singing gaily 

 through great woods like those our fathers knew. 

 With the elements, man, beast, and bird all 

 intent upon its destruction, it is a marvel that 

 our native brook-trout survives. But live on 

 he does, though his numbers constantly de- 

 crease. The great gaps left in his ranks are 

 being filled by the alien brown trout his equal 

 in every respect but that of beauty. True, 

 there is a wide difference of opinion in this par- 

 ticular, and there are some who will go so far 

 as to say that the brown trout is, all round, the 

 better fish for the angler. When feeding he 

 takes the fly quite as freely as the native trout, 

 leaps vigorously when hooked, grows rapidly to 

 a large size, and seems better able to withstand 

 abnormal changes in the temperature of the 

 water, which are so often fatal to fontinalis. No 

 one deplores the scarcity of our own beautiful 

 fish more than I do; but we must not be blind 

 to the facts that the brown trout is a game-fish, 

 that he is in our streams and there to stay, and 

 that our streams are suited to him. He is a 

 fish of moods and often seems less willing to 

 feed than the native trout; but for that reason 

 alone, if for no other, I would consider him the 

 sportier fish. When both varieties are taking 



