May-flies and Birds 117 



good deal has been done to assist Nature, by the authorities 

 whose interest lies in seeing that the fishing is improved. 

 That their efforts will be crowned by the highest attainable 

 success must be the wish of everyone who has visited 

 Vyrnwy, and has had eyes to see, and appreciate, the trouble 

 taken to make the place as attractive as possible. 



The Dark May-fly, or Mackerel (Ephemera danica\ occurs 

 on the Vyrnwy and some of the neighbouring streams, and 

 has found its way into the lake, but, as on many other 

 waters, the trout there show no particular liking for it. It 

 is sometimes abundant on Llyn Tegid, and its tributaries, 

 as is, also, the closely allied E. vulgata, which has, perhaps, 

 most claim to be regarded as the May fly, or Green Drake ; 

 but there, too, neither species possesses that attractive power 

 over large fish which English anglers are disposed to expect 

 of them. I have seen them out in hundreds, from about 

 the second week in June onwards, and nothing but an 

 occasional small trout rising at them, and have often had 

 similar experience of them in other mountain streams. But 

 although trout refuse to recognise their charms, birds do 

 not. On Bala Lake, scores of Black-headed Gulls may 

 sometimes be seen greedily hawking May-flies, while Swifts, 

 Swallows, and other small birds, are not slow in showing their 

 appreciation of such delicate mouthfuls. One day I saw a 

 Starling carry upwards of a dozen to her nest in quick 

 succession, and she was still returning for more when I left. 

 Chaffinches, also, are particularly fond of them, and very 

 adroit at taking them upon the wing. A few examples of 

 E. damca appeared about Llanuwchllyn towards the end of 

 May, but it was most abundant quite a month later : the 

 earliest date on which E. vulgata was noticed being June 8th. 



The real " May-fly " of these parts, as indeed of most 

 streams in which it occurs, is, however, the Stone-fly (Perla 

 bicaudata\ which comes out in April, or sometimes in March, 

 and is often abundant in May, and when it is upon the 

 water, all the best trout are on the feed. Properly fished 

 with, there is no more deadly bait than a natural Stone-fly, 

 but an imitation, at all satisfactory, is difficult to make. 

 "The Creeper" of Scotch streams is the full-grown larva 



