172 THE DRY FLY AND FAST WATER 



me. He took many apparently dead insects, 

 and refused many. He never refused any that 

 were alive, and size or colour or shape made no 

 difference to him. Why some dead insects ap- 

 pealed to him and others did not, I cannot guess, 

 unless, perhaps, those that appeared dead to me 

 did not look so to him. Every time he rose, it 

 was with the greatest deliberation; never did he 

 rush at the fly, and once when a particularly 

 active dun fluttered on the surface close to him, 

 instead of rushing for it as I expected him to do, 

 he merely backed up under it, rising very slowly, 

 finally sucking it in. Another thing I noticed 

 was that he never went forward to take an in- 

 sect. He went forward frequently to meet one, 

 but always took it backing up. This manner of 

 taking a fly is not at all unusual, as fish may fre- 

 quently be seen backing under an artificial, 

 sometimes even turning down-stream before tak- 

 ing it. If an insect showed the slightest activity, 

 which many of them did in various ways, moving 

 the body up and down, opening and closing 

 their wings, or moving their legs, he never 

 hesitated, but took it at once, even the tiniest. 

 If the insect lay upon its side, he would drift 

 with it a foot or two, sometimes taking it, fre- 

 quently leaving it. On one occasion he backed 



