1 84 THE DRY FLY AND FAST WATER 



conscience, permits. This same man fishing in 

 Pennsylvania or lower New York, practising 

 the same methods he applied in the North, will 

 leave the streams with the idea firmly fixed in 

 his mind that they are barren of fish, or, per- 

 chance, viewing the catch made by a more 

 skilful angler, will come to the conclusion that 

 the fish are more wary than their fellows of the 

 North, and that a skill unknown to the angler 

 lacking experience on these waters is required 

 to take them. The instinct of self-preservation 

 is quite as strong in the trout of the wilderness, 

 but expresses itself in other ways that are in 

 keeping with the different conditions they have 

 to contend with. 



In most places where trout are plentiful, 

 there is abundance of room for them to 

 escape from an enemy, an advantage denied 

 the trout which are restricted to the narrow 

 confines of one of our mountain streams, par- 

 ticularly when the water is low and the trout 

 have to be more wary than ever, if they are to 

 survive. While endowed with the same agility 

 and the same keenness of sight, the wilderness 

 fish are emboldened by numbers, and appear to 

 depend a great deal upon one another for warn- 

 ing; they are alert only to the "main chance"; 



