CHAPTER II. 



TROUTING-FLIES. 



" So just the colours shine through every part, 

 That Nature seems to live again in Art. " 



GAY. 

 " Wei cowde he dresse his takel yemanly." 



CHAUCER. 



HHHEEE are two considerations which guide me 

 in the selection of my trouting-flies. First, 

 that although trout may feed more or less on a 

 great number of natural insects, they have a decided 

 preference for certain flies at certain seasons ; and 

 secondly, that seeing they take an artificial fly for 

 a natural, the more closely that artificial resembles 

 its prototype, the more likely are they to take it. 

 These statements, though wide and general, are not 

 mere assumptions, the principles of some visionary 

 theory of the angler's art, but the well-grounded 

 beliefs of most practical fishers, and, in my own 

 case, the product of a close observation of insect- 

 life and long study of the habits and whims of fish. 



