74 



On the kinds of flies commonly used on the Mth, 

 and its dependent streams, we have little in the way 

 of advice to give. We have here) as elsewhere, 

 found nearly all colours, and combinations of colours, 

 highly extolled, and successfully used. Perhaps, if 

 a fair estimate could be made, it would be found to 

 recommend flies of a moderate size, lightish and 

 brownish wings for the summer months, and grey 

 and mottled wings, with red body, for the entire 

 spring season. But to dogmatise on the matter 

 is little better than sheer folly. "We have seen 

 fine baskets of fish taken by country lads, in the 

 higher sections of these waters, with the queerest 

 looking things, in the shape of flies, that ever were 

 seen. Nothing in the history of Entomology could 

 approach them; and yet, strange to say, the fish 

 seemed to take them most greedily. 



Below the town of Dumfries, this fine river of 

 Nith is navigable for small vessels. Its picturesque 

 scenes and landscapes terminate at this spot ; so 

 likewise terminate its rod-fishing capabilities as a 

 pastoral stream. From the town to the sea, the 

 country is low, ill-looking, swampy, and nearly des- 

 titute of every object on which the mind rests with 

 pleasure and satisfaction. 



"When the angler visits Dumfries, he must pay 

 his tribute of respect to the memorials which are 

 here, of the greatest of Scotland's bards Eobert 

 Burns. He resided in this town for the last five 

 years of his life. The house in which he took up 

 his abode, is situated in what is now called Burns 



