262 DRY-FLY FISHING 



It is the same fly as we have frequently seen 

 hatching out at all times of the day, even just 

 before nightfall in July, when especially it forces 

 the trout to take notice. It is likewise our old, 

 esteemed friend the dark Blae and Yellow, with 

 which we have done considerable execution on 

 the loch and in the gloaming on the river. 



In the interval of watching this specimen, several 

 more have come to land. We are specially inter- 

 ested in one of them ; something goes amiss, for 

 in spite of great effort it fails to extricate itself 

 from its confining envelope, and presently all is still. 



We are induced to look more closely into the 

 water, and we perceive dozens of the nymphs 

 crowding the upper surfaces of completely immersed 

 stones. Apparently to them the call to the air has 

 not yet come. We raise a hand to lift out a stone 

 generously dotted with them, but at the first move- 

 ment everyone of these curious creatures within 

 two yards disappears as if by magic. 



In a few minutes they are out again, as numerous 

 as ever ; we flick a cigarette end into the water. 

 As it floats along it seems to sweep the nymphs 

 before it ; with amazing speed they bolt beneath 

 the stones. Occasionally one will swim from the 

 shelter of one stone to another ; the eye can easily 

 follow it on such a journey, but fails completely 

 to do so when the nymph darts from above to 

 beneath a stone. We do not think that trout can 

 capture many nymphs of the Olive Dun, except at 

 that time when they are about to assume the winged 

 state. 



We pick a stone out of the water, and by rare 

 good luck discover a nymph on the under side. 



