DUTY FLY FISHING 45 



There are the separate and successive greens of 

 the fresh young leaves of different trees, perhaps 

 the most tender and the most transient of all the 

 colours that leaves or flowers give to any season. 

 Then there are the great blossoms of May, of 

 which I especially value six, all so conspicuous in 

 colour as to compel one's attention, and three of 

 them wonderful in perfume. They are the lilac, 

 hawthorn, gorse, horse-chestnut, laburnum and 

 broom. Not to spend time in the country while 

 all these things are at their best, is to lead a dull 

 life indeed ; and yet, if we are not to miss some 

 of them, we must spend a part at least of every 

 week of May in going about the country with 

 attention free and eyes afield. Dry fly fishing 

 leaves many hours free for this. The first half 

 of May, too, is the most favourable time for 

 making discovery of birds. The summer birds 

 have nearly all arrived, and all birds are singing ; 

 but the leaves are not thick yet, and both in 

 brushwood and in trees it is comparatively easy 

 to see the different species. They are active 

 with the business and excitement of the breeding 

 season, and it is just at this time that they most 

 attract the notice of eye and ear. A little later 



