MAY 111 



by nineteen out of every twenty anglers upon visiting a 

 new river is ' What are the right flies ? ' 



Meanwhile, should the fancy ever revert to the ancient 

 type of fly, one at least of the old patterns will be very 

 hard to supply to wit, the dun-turkey with light tips. 

 The bird which gave the feathers is wellnigh extinct. 

 Five-and-twenty years ago the chances were in favour of 

 the 'bubblyjock ' in a Scottish farmyard being of a sandy 

 brown, with the edge of each feather upon his back 

 passing into whitish fawn. Nowadays one never, or 

 hardly ever, sees such a bird. All turkeys show the dark 

 metallic tints of the wild American strain. It is interest- 

 ing, by the bye, to note that Ireland was the birthplace of 

 brilliant salmon flies. To this day one hears them spoken 

 of in Scotland as ' Irish patterns," which may be taken as 

 evidence that the artistic sense of the Celt is not yet ex- 

 tinct, and that the delight and skill which he displayed of 

 yore in beje welling the pages of the ' Book of Kells ' now 

 find gratification in dainty designs for salmon flies. 



Well, I have wandered unpardonably from my text ; let 

 me hark back to the Linn of Bargrennan, where I made 

 great parade of preparation for business. It is an 

 awkward place to fish, for the cliffs are high and perpen- 

 dicular, and stand-points are few and far between. How- 

 ever, I clambered down to a secure foothold, and began 

 flinging the little Ranger, gradually lengthening the line 

 till the power of the fifteen footer was about at its limit. 

 Then something happened: the line stopped a sunken 

 rock, was it ? No ! There was a delightful sensation of 

 kicking gentle at first, then more vigorous. In him! 

 and the next question was how to get him out of that 

 swift, deep water. Well, the fish must tire himself first ; 



