162 THE DRY FLY AND FAST WATER 



coloured nondescript is taken, success should be 

 ascribed to the great skill of the angler and his 

 particularly clean presentation of the fly, or to 

 the fact that the fly was "popped" over and so 

 close to a. fish that it was seized because of its 

 proximity. 



The taking of trout with either of those two 

 famous flies, the Gold-Ribbed Hare's Ear or 

 the Wickham's Fancy, after fish have refused 

 close imitations of the insects upon which 

 they were feeding, might also be urged as an 

 argument against the imitation theory, though 

 against the colour part of it only, as those two 

 patterns, while imitations, perhaps, of no indi- 

 vidual insects, do bear a general resemblance to 

 many, and may be said to be typical in form. 

 It is quite possible that the bright tinsel body 

 of the Wickham's Fancy, and the rib of gold 

 wire or tinsel of the Hare's Ear, represent to the 

 trout that beautiful, iridescent colouring plainly 

 visible upon the body of many natural insects. 

 It is also quite possible that the flashing of 

 the tinsel, opaque though it is, produces that 

 quality of translucence so apparent in the nat- 

 ural insect. 



The theory that a counterpart in colour and 

 form of the natural food of the trout is more 



