n8 Wild Life in Wales 



of this insect ; and whether the larva, or the perfect insect, is 

 used upon the hook, matters but little, both being fished 

 with in the same manner, and both greedily taken by the 

 trout. The custom of many anglers is to impale two insects 

 (or creepers) together upon the line, using a double hook, 

 or one tied on a little above the other ; but, personally, I 

 have always preferred a single fly on a single hook ; and if a 

 short bristle is tied on, at the head of the latter, it effectually 

 retains the fly in position, and covers the hook. Such an 

 addition, it may be remarked, is also a great advantage 

 when a single hook is used for worm fishing. The creeper 

 requires to be fished like up-stream worm, a short line being 

 all that can be used owing to the tenderness of the bait, 

 and broken water at the heads of pools, or behind large 

 stones, will generally be found the most certain cast. 



When Lake Vyrnwy was made, the Corporation purchased 

 the whole water-shed, and included in the property are some 

 excellent grouse moors, the sport obtained at some of the 

 butts being, to some extent, gaugeable by the large number 

 of empty cartridge cases strewn around them, when I walked 

 across the moors in September. In addition to some 

 Pheasants visible around the woods, Black-game have also 

 been introduced, and are the envy of many of the Scotch 

 keepers on adjoining moors. On many of these properties, 

 one can hardly help being struck by the absence of Black- 

 game, for some of the partially wooded, and brake-grown 

 vales, look like ideal ground for them, and they ought 

 certainly to thrive as well, or better, here than the pheasants, 

 and partridges, on which so much care is often lavished. 

 During my stay in the Dee valley, only one solitary Grey- 

 hen came under my personal notice (this was in the birch 

 wood near Craig-y-tan), though I was told that there were, 

 or had been, a few somewhere in the neighbourhood of 

 Trawsfynydd, and of an old Black-cock that had, for two 

 or three years, made his home on the mountains above 

 Drws-y-nant. With a modicum of fair-play at starting, I 

 feel sure they would do well round Llanuwchllyn, and as an 

 addition to the game-birds of a moorland country, Black- 

 game come only second to the Red Grouse. 



