278 SALMON AND TROUT. 



should in general be an imitation, and on clear and often-fished 

 waters a very close one, of some particular insect, I have no 

 shadow of a doubt ; nor do I believe that anyone who has 

 fished in the Derwent, the Driffield water, the Teme, or the 

 Itchin, will hesitate to agree with me. Again and again have 

 I found the ' March browns ' supersede every other fly early in 

 the season, when the natural insect, which I had imitated most 

 carefully, floated on the water by thousands ; nor do I doubt 

 that at such times Mr. Bainbridge's advice, to fish at once with 

 three March browns slightly varied in tint and size, is most 

 judicious. I have seen in like manner the little ' iron-blue ' on 

 a cold morning strong on the water, when I could not stir a 

 fin with any other lure. The day warmed a shower softened 

 the wind and the recent favourite was a useless appendage to 

 my line ; while a larger, gayer insect, visible on the water, 

 warned me, not in vain, that the ' yellow dun ' must now be 

 taken into council. How often, again, in July and August, do 

 the artificial fern fly and ant fly killing through the sultry 

 hours while the natural insects are also conspicuous give 

 place towards evening to that late- fluttering tempter the red- 

 spinner, whom I have dropped on the water scarce distinguish- 

 able among his living likenesses ! 



The green-drake, 1 again (better known perhaps as the ' May 

 fly '), is a strong case in point. It is on the water little more 

 than a fortnight, a large and 'ken-speckle ' insect, and through- 

 out that time it is very difficult, during the hours of its appear- 

 ance, to induce a trout, in the streams where it is bred, to look 

 at any artificial fly save a palpable imitation of this beautiful 

 creature. To complete the argument, the same imitation is 

 utterly useless on those English streams which do not produce 

 the real insect. 



Again, the experienced fly fisher will acknowledge the fact, 

 that what the initiated call ' palmers ' are taken, especially in 



1 It may be worth remark that, on the lakes of Westmeath (in this point 

 very unlike those of Scotland), the May fly has its killing period, and, as in 

 England, kills almost to the exclusion of every other fly. 



