46 FLY FISHING 



on the air will still be full of sound and song, 

 but it will be much more difficult owing to the 

 leaves to get a good sight of any bird that 

 has attracted attention or raised a doubt of its 

 identity by its song. 



May is a good month on a chalk stream, but 

 to my mind the perfection of dry fly fishing is 

 to be had on a good day in mid- June, on water 

 where the May-fly never appears, first to excite 

 the trout and the anglers, and then to leave the 

 fish without appetite and the angler too often 

 discontented. The May-fly is a fine institution, 

 and where it comes in enormous quantities, as 

 it does on some rivers such as the Kennet, it pro- 

 vides a fortnight of most glorious fishing; but 

 elsewhere it interrupts the season, and unless the 

 trout are very large, or there is a great lack of 

 duns and small flies, I would not attempt tc 

 reintroduce the May-fly where it has ceased to 

 exist in any numbers. 



And now let the pleasure of this June day be 

 heightened by the contrast of work and life in 

 London. This is not the place in which to write 

 of the deep human interests of London, of what 

 great affairs have their centre and of what issues 



