292 FISHING GOSSIP. 



As the angler descends, the music of the song-bird 

 meets his ear from every bush, and the groves 

 resound with the cooing of the wood-pigeon or the 

 soft notes of the cuckoo. And now he approaches 

 the scene of his anticipated triumph. There is the 

 deep rocky pool and racing shallow, the whirling 

 eddy and rippling stream now foaming over rocks, 

 and now meandering slowly between green banks. 

 Xow it pauses as if to enjoy the glory of the pro- 

 spect, then rushes impetuously forward, eager to drink 

 in the grandeur of some new scene. Everything 

 seems endowed with life to welcome the return of 

 summer, and the very river is alive with leaping 

 trout. No wonder that with Sir Henry Watton he 

 finds "fly-fishing" a "cheerer of the spirits, a tran- 

 quilliser of the mind, a calmer of unquiet thoughts, a 

 diverter of sadness." 



And then the art itself is lively and graceful. 

 Look at the angler as he approaches some favourite 

 spot. See him as he observes the monarch of the 

 pool regaling himself on the incautious insect that 

 sports in fancied security upon the surface. In- 

 wardly he vows that it shall be avenged. Cautiously 

 he approaches, concealing himself by kneeling, or 

 keeping behind some bush, lest by any chance his 

 expected prey should discover him and so be warned. 

 Gracefully wheeling his long line behind, he lays 

 his flies down softly as a snow-flake just above the 



