280 EARLY TROUT FISHING. 



must be made worth this gentleman's while 

 to permit himself to be tapped for informa- 

 tion : if possible purchase from him at your 

 first interview, his fly book. If you do not 

 buy that unsavoury album at once, do not 

 bid for it all, for in order to provide for such a 

 contingency and windfall, and still to keep you 

 in his power, the professional parish angler will 

 stuff it expressly for you with his stock of fly- 

 tying failures, should he have an opportunity 

 and time for reflection. Never listen to his 

 invitations to degrade you to the level of an 

 angler who depends for his sport on the livid 

 nastinesses of the tanyard. Should the expert 

 avoid your solicitations, be mean enough to 

 watch and to dodge his movements. Ob- 

 serve the hours he keeps by the river, and 

 follow suit. On the whole, indeed, it may be 

 said that anglers' guides and companions are a 

 harmless and guileless race of mortals, who are 

 willing to earn an honest penny in connection 

 with their craft without any exceptional for- 

 wardness or importunity. In trout fishing in 

 new quarters they are, for the first few days at 

 any rate, indispensable. Afterwards, however 



