Notes and Sjjort of a Dry -Fly Purist. 173 



small splash near the fly, I noticed that they did 

 not follow it while floating further down, neverthe- 

 less, in two instances it must have been taken while 

 submerged, for fish hooked themselves and were 

 safely brought to net, the brace weighing 21b. 3oz. 

 But when the shadows began to lengthen the 

 grayling became more in earnest, and for the last 

 half hour the rings and breaks they made on the 

 surface were so frequent that I was constantly 

 casting over or unhooking fish, and enjoying 

 exciting sport, with the sufficiently satisfactory 

 result that three more brace of a takable size were 

 secured. 



On the 31st I fished in the same delightful environ- 

 ment, but as I intended to stay until dusk in order 

 to ascertain, for my future guidance this month and 

 next, whether there was any evening rise much 

 after sunset worth waiting for, I did not begin 

 operations until nearly 2 p.m. At that time bright 

 sunshine illuminated the scene, showing up all the 

 glory of the autumnal foliage, golden and crimson, 

 russet and faded green, yellow and red, still clinging 

 to the trees, and carpeting the verdant sward be- 

 neath them ; while the full river flowed smoothly 

 on, its surface like a golden mirror, reflecting clouds 

 and the blue canopy of space. And although a 

 cold north-east wind was unfavourable for casting 

 up-stream, it happened that a long throw was seldom 



