SOME FANCIES SOME FACTS 185 



i. e., the taking of anything that looks like food. 

 This explains why it is easy for the veriest tyro 

 fishing in the wilderness to take as many fish 

 with the fly in a single day as the expert on 

 the Southern streams would be content to take 

 in a season. Many of these big catches are made 

 upon lakes and streams that are heavily fished; 

 yet the angler rarely has to resort to methods 

 which require any great skill. In many instances 

 the fishing is done from a canoe, and fish are 

 taken quite close to it, the interest on the part 

 of the trout seemingly being actuated by nothing 

 more than a desire to "beat his fellows to it." 



The law of "the survival of the fittest" ap- 

 plies equally to the fish of the Southern streams 

 and to the fish of the wilderness. In both cases 

 vigilance and agility are the price of continued 

 existence on the one hand, to avoid the attack 

 which may deprive the fish of life, on the other, 

 to excel in the scramble for that which will sus- 

 tain it. 



If the old saw which runs, "When the wind 

 is in the north the skilful fisherman goes not 

 forth," etc., referred to fly fishing, it was plainly 

 meant for the angler who did not care to in- 

 dulge in his sport when the chilling blasts from 

 this quarter were howling about the stream, 



