IMITATION OF THE NATURAL INSECT 145 



dozen flies in a tumbler of water, pressing and 

 squeezing every bit of dyestuff out of them that 

 I could. They were all pink-bodied when I had 

 finished with them. Recollections of the fol- 

 lowing day are still fresh in my mind. The fish 

 seemed frantic to get my fly. I used one as 

 the stretcher, and it was taken almost to the 

 utter exclusion of the other patterns above. I 

 remember that, while sitting upon a boulder in 

 midstream tying another pink fly on in place of 

 the hand dropper, as an experiment, I lost it in 

 the swift current, and felt almost as badly as 

 if I had lost a friend. The fly used as a dropper 

 was taken readily, but not so often as when 

 used as a stretcher, yet often enough to make me 

 feel that I had made a great discovery. Since 

 then, however, I have often wondered if it 

 really were a discovery, or if, indeed, the old 

 Queen-of-the-Waters, under the circumstances 

 and conditions prevailing at the time, would not 

 have been just as killing, and probably just as 

 great a failure the preceding day. 



Many years have passed, and I am still using 

 the pink-bodied fly, modified in form, however, 

 but never the Queen-of-the-Waters. I cannot 

 say that I think it takes any better than the 

 Whirling Dun or the Pale Evening Dun, which 



