FLIES. 35 



good sport if the fly angled with be large and black. 

 A crow's feather wrapt round a bait-hook maybe used 

 successfully, especially in deep still waters and lochs, 

 near the side, where the hugest fish prowl in search 

 of food. White flies in imitation of moths are next 

 thing to useless, though many anglers advise them. 

 Recommend us always to pitch-black flies for night 

 fishing. Many is the fish we have hooked, not a 

 yard's distance from the shore, with this expedient. 

 What they are taken for, nobody knows ; beetles or 

 mice, it is of little consequence. Loch flies in gene- 

 ral should be large, and in spring of a dark colour, 

 progressively becoming lighter the nearer you approach 

 autumn. Green bodies and grasshoppers we have 

 found excellent in many places, especially in Highland 

 lochs. A killing fly may be constructed from a hen's 

 feather and a twitch of wool taken out of an old car- 

 pet, when no other materials are at hand. We re- 

 member having successful recourse to this expedient, 

 while on an angling excursion in Inverness-shire. Some 

 anglers greatly use the natural fly at certain seasons, 

 and no doubt it is a killing bait, but somewhat trouble- 

 some to collect. The May-flies are those best adapted 

 for this kind of angling. They ought to be gathered 

 previously from under stones by the water-side, and 

 kept in a small flannel bag. When used, transfix two 

 on your hook at the same time, and angle as you would 

 with worm, only nearer the surface, and with a short 

 line. Two varieties of the wild oats, avena fatua and 

 avena sterilis, which closely resemble a natural fly, are 

 employed in the northern districts of Scotland by trout 

 and salmon fishers. 



To conclude our chapter upon flies, we must again 

 express an absolute contempt for all pedantry upon 

 this matter. We like systematic anglers, but not 



