MAY. 59 



Wings, amber feather tipped with black, from the cock- 

 pheasant's breast ; body orange silk, with a few fibres of 

 orange mohair at the breast for legs. 



NOTE. Numerous swarms of different flies now meet 

 their arch enemy, the swift, which, like a winged dart, cleaves 

 their devoted ranks. The angler's list shrinks when com- 

 pared with the vast varieties. House flies, spinners, beetles, 

 etc., increase and expand their species far beyond the ken 

 of the flyfisher whose skill is often foiled when the fish 

 are rising around him at some fly or insect known to them- 

 selves only. Many of the choicest species of the three 

 aquatic tribes, the brown drakes and duns, are this month in 

 their greatest numbers and virgin freshness ; while trout are 

 exceedingly bold and their appetites keen. The needle, Royal 

 Charlie ; light mottled, and bloa browns ; the blue, brown, 

 red brown, checkwing, iron blue, dark, and light drakes ; 

 also the light and freckled duns, etc., are all hatching and 

 on the water, more or less, daily ; and the gravel spinners 

 are in their best perfection. All these are first-rate day flies 

 for trout, and may be used at the times of hatching, or such 

 as are most numerous on the water, or the fish are taking. 

 Any others hitherto mentioned may be selected from the 

 list, and tried with or without the hackles. Some of the 

 duns and drakes assemble, on warm evenings, this month, 

 and lay their eggs on the water, which commences evening 

 fishing. The three superiors the stone fly, green drake, 

 and red dun are in conjunction this month. The stone 

 fly commences her imperial reign about the eighth, and the 

 green drake about the twenty-fourth. When the weather 

 is genial, at the times of hatching and coming on the water 

 of these two flies, the trout generally take their fulth of 

 them in preference to all others, when the natural flies only 

 can succeed ; but if rude, stormy weather then prevails, it 

 gives good imitations a chance. The red dun is a fine large 

 F 



