Notes and Sport of a Dry -Fly Purist. 143 



his exact locale, and enabling me, by a trial cast 

 along the grass, to ascertain the right distance. 

 And when he came up again, forth went my lure, 

 temptingly cocked over him, and it was instantly 

 sucked in, as I felt almost sure it would be, for a 

 trout under one's own bank is one of the easiest 

 of captures for a dry-fly expert. Several minutes of 

 exciting play followed before he came to net, when 

 the usual coup de grace was given by three taps over 

 his brain pan, and he was laid in the creel with the 

 other, one leaf of the before-mentioned butter-bur 

 under them and one covering. By the way, there 

 is nothing better than such leaves to be used for this 

 purpose, for the bottom of the creel is thereby kept 

 less contaminated, and the beautiful fish are not 

 marked, as they often are when laid in short grass or 

 nettles. 



On my way back, softly treading along the bank, 

 but as much as possible out of the sight of the fish, 

 and yet able to observe their movement on the 

 surface (not unfrequently deceived by the ripple a 

 weed makes when it pops up at intervals and dis- 

 appears), I stopped now and then to make casts, 

 chiefly experimental over a glide, but only one small 

 grayling came to hand. Then when I reached the 

 broad run and quietly sank on my left knee, casting 

 began in earnest. Olive duns were now floating 

 down, and several trout rose simultaneously, with, 



