LOCHS AND RESERVOIRS 173 



fore, when really intent on feeding, he may take 

 anything and everything that comes along, intending 

 to discard it immediately if in any way not to his 

 liking. From the behaviour of loch-trout one is 

 inclined, on the other hand, to conclude that they 

 are perfectly aware that floating flies can be safely 

 neglected, until either the subaqueous food-supplies 

 are exhausted for the time being, or rival trout begin 

 to seek what is on the surface. Thus necessity or 

 jealousy is accountable for the remarkable unanimity 

 displayed by the trout inhabiting still water. They 

 do not know that the subimagines of the Ephemeridce 

 in time leave the loch altogether, or perhaps they 

 know more than that, viz. that as fully developed 

 spinners the flies must return. 



We think that the wet-fly is the more consistently 

 useful lure on the loch, and that for many reasons. 

 It may represent so many forms of life on which 

 the trout feed, larvae, shrimps, diminutive fry, 

 descending or ascending egg-laying flies, corixae, 

 and other denizens of the aquatic world ; as it 

 moves regularly or erratically it may suggest to a 

 trout something striving to flee its dangerous vicinity ; 

 it may, as it turns, emit a flash from tinsel, wing, 

 or hackle, that makes a resting fish awake to life 

 and energy. 



The trout find all around them the food they 

 need ; the larvae of sedge and dun, that arise straight 

 to the surface, must be very numerous indeed, when 

 any escape their attentions ; only those that seek 

 the shores under cover of the gravel manage to 

 elude them. Therefore the wet-fly kills well as a 

 general rule. Sometimes it must be sunk very low 

 in some lochs the trout will scarcely take a fly 



