200 THE SCIENTIFIC AKGLEK. 



We have had the pleasure of wetting our line upon all 

 trouc streams of note in the three kingdoms, but nowhere 

 have we had such sport with this fly as on the Dove. 

 Centuries ago this river was considered the best stream 

 for trout fishing in England, and it still bears the palm 

 for Drake fishing. In this renowned dale, which not 

 only takes its name, but whose sylvan scenery derives an 

 indescribable charm from the river, the flies are far more 

 numerous than on any other stream. This may be due 

 to various causes, the sheltering of rocks and foliage, or 

 the geological formation of the bed of the river. This, 

 however, we pass over; suffice it that the Green Drake, 

 when scarce and almost a failure elsewhere, is to be found 

 in clouds in Dovedale. Here fishermen of all grades 

 throng the banks of bonny Dove with almost every con- 

 ceivable equipment; long men with short rods, small men 

 with large ones, from the youthful novice to the venerable 

 old fly fisher of seventy years. 



And now, with our reader's kind permission, we will 

 conduct him to a favorite length some distance up- 

 stream, keeping a look out meanwhile in our progress as 

 to what is doing. The first object that strikes our 

 notice as we walk leisurely along, is an old man, who 

 sits rod in hand under the friendly shade of some rather 

 overgrown bushes, quietly and contentedly blowing his 

 weed, his eye intently fixed on some object on the water 

 near. 



"Why, he's certainly float fishing," you observe. 



"Not so," we reply; "it is the hale old miller from 

 above, who has been tempted by the morning's bright 

 promise of this being a good day with the Drake, with 

 one of which he is dibbing or daping upon the water's 

 surface, near the roots of the hawthorns." 



"But surely he cannot hope to do much in that way?" 

 you ask. 



" The very largest fish are taken in this manner. You 



