2l6 NOTES ON THE MONTHS FOR FLY-FISHING. 



bright open weather, when the inclement season has 

 terminated, these flies are carried by the wind upon 

 the water, the surface of which being thus quickly 

 besprinkled with struggling atoms of life, the atten- 

 tion of the hunger-bitten trout is speedily arrested, 

 and under these circumstances they seldom fail to 

 shake off their lethargy to feed freely upon them. 

 It is the best fly that can be used early and late in the 

 day through the whole of this month, and occasionally 

 in April. 



The March Brown is a general favourite with 

 both fish and fishermen throughout Britain. In 

 Wales it is termed the Cob fly. In the northern 

 counties of England it is known as the brown or dun 

 drake ; but, though in different localities the name 

 varies, the insect itself is characteristically the same 

 everywhere. The wings are nearly erect, after the 

 manner of all the duns, the colour being a beautiful 

 freckled brown, and the legs the same shade. The 

 body varies, but is generally a decided rusty hue, 

 with yellow ribs protruding, and it resembles the green 

 drake or May fly more closely than any other species. 

 It is two-thirds the size, and goes through similar 

 changes. As the weather gets a little warmer these 

 flies appear a shade smaller in size, and lighter in 

 colour. This is called the Turkey Brown, though 

 exactly the same ephemeral. It is often erroneously 

 supposed to be the female March Brown. This 

 large brown, with its metamorphosis, the Great Red 

 Spinner, lasts until May, and even June, and appears 

 again in August, but smaller still in size. In the 



