FISHING AT HOME AND ABROAD 

 trout lose their senses ? To this I reply that my original statement 

 had no special reference to trout, but it had special reference to 

 salmon. But whereas salmon are vagrant, uncertain creatures, here 

 to-day and gone to-morrow, it is impossible to experiment upon 

 them with the precision which can be applied to trout in a clear 

 English stream, where every movement can be watched. . . . 



" Next it may be asked. What is the general impression left on 

 my mind by these experiments so far as they have gone ? What light 

 have they thrown on the problem of the perception of colour by fish ? 

 The fair inference seems to be this alternative— either fish do not 

 perceive the difference between the coloured rays reflected from, 

 or transmitted through, objects; or, if they perceive it, they disregard 

 it. . . . If this conclusion be just with respect to trout — the wariest 

 fish that swims — ^what important bearing it has on the whole theory 

 and practice of salmon-fishing with fly ! What a vast degree of in- 

 genuity is exhausted in devising attractive patterns of salmon-flies! 

 and what a lot of perplexity and hesitation the angler undergoes 

 at times when salmon are not in a taking mood ! . . . A trout gazes 

 earnestly and critically at what is shown to it ;* if the most unnatural 

 and brilliant colours do not deter him from attack, how much less 

 likely it is that a salmon should refuse a lure because it does not 

 correspond precisely in hue with some imaginary creature which 

 it is supposed to represent. 



" Some salmon-flies doubtless are more conspicuous in the water 

 than others. Those with strong contrasts of shade, such as "Jock 

 Scott," "White Wing," or "Durham Ranger," may be more easily 

 detected, even by a colour-blind creature, than those of a uniform 

 tone like the "Blue Doctor" or the "Kelly." ... I have long thought 

 it possible, and begin to believe it probable, that, even supposing a 

 fish is placed in the best possible position for detecting variety of 

 colour in a fly, instead of in the worst, as he must be in nine cases 

 out of ten, all the impression he receives is the chiaro-oscuro of a vivid 

 photograph." 

 Since the report whence these extracts have been made was published, 

 I have been the subject of a good deal of severe criticism, and even of 



'This applies only to trout taking a floating fly In a gently-flowing, clear stream. The behaviour of the same trout 

 seizing a sunk fly is very different, being a dash and a plunge. But the sunk fly moves as no natural fly can do ; the 

 trout pursues it as he would a swiftly-swimming water insect. 



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