o*4 Dry-Fly Fishing. 



" What a lovely world is this ! " one exclaims, as, 

 lost for a few minutes in admiration, one's rapt gaze 

 falls to earth again, and there beauty is all around, 

 summer decked in her choicest robes, profusely 

 embroidered by Flora. The fly -rod is ready, and so 

 are you. But, as you feel that you have the two 

 streams and the park entirely to yourself, there need 

 be no hurry in your progress. That is an advantage 

 to enhance one's quiet enjoyment. A trout is 

 rising almost at your feet, so cautiously have you 

 approached the bank ; you draw away, and kneel 

 lower down. He still rises. " Doomed ! " you 

 mutter and, sure enough, the first fly, deftly pre- 

 sented, tempts, hooks, and he is brought to net ; 

 the steelyard indicates 1 Jib. The fish are so guile- 

 less in this little-fished preserve and, therefore, so 

 easy to capture moreover, it is a rule with me, when 

 fishing by favour in private water, not to aim at 

 making too big a bag that I at once decide not to 

 kill any smaller trout than this first one caught, 

 during the day. It may be self-denying, but it is 

 an advantage to the fishery and an act of courtesy to 

 one's host. The three next seen rising fish are all, 

 presumably, under that size, and therefore are not 

 even cast over. Then a grayling rises, but I snatch 

 my fly from him, as he cannot be in condition yet, 

 having only completed his spawning operations in 

 May ; in like manner all other grayling rises are 



