MA Y-FLIES. 69 



It is true that some enthusiastic fly-fishers de- 

 nounce blowing the fly as a rather unsportsmanlike 

 mode of angling ; when practised with an artificial 

 fly it cannot well be defended on any grounds what- 

 ever ; and in all rules for fishing clubs it ought to be 

 forbidden. There is another mode of dibbing, how- 

 ever, free from any such objections, for which the 

 natural May-fly answers admirably. It not unfre- 

 quently happens that a large trout takes up a position 

 under the spreading branches of a tree, beneath a 

 natural chevaux-de-frise, formed by a straggling ever- 

 green thorn, or in some similar position, utterly unat- 

 tainable by an artificial fly, though thrown by the 

 deftest hand. Here, too, that large trout, the best in 

 water, will remain till forcibly ejected by man, otter, or 

 a stronger fish than itself ; and if the tenant of one of 

 those acquatic castles be captured one day, the next 

 best fish in the neighbourhood will be in full posses- 

 sion on the day after. Randal Holme had probably 

 a fish of this description in his mind when he wrote, 

 in his extraordinary Academy of Armory, that " trout 

 are emblems of quiet, calm, and gentleness, such as 

 love not to be in troubled waters, or to be tossed to and 

 fro by the blustering of wicked and malevolent spirits, 

 but rather live quiet at home, than enjoy abundance 

 through labour and trouble." Whatever the trout 

 may love, however, is beyond the question ; man likes 

 to catch it, and the way to achieve a consummation 



