ON KAriD STREAMS. 191 



the natural and artificial minnow : when each or 

 either can be worked equally well, and the trout 

 are feeding well on the minnow, their killing 

 powers are practically almost equal. Where the 

 artificial minnow cannot be worked perfectly well, 

 it will not kill at all ; but in such places the 

 natural minnow, though imperfectly spinning, or 

 working in such a way as will not answer for the 

 artificial minnow, may yet be made sufficiently 

 stimulating and exciting to the trout for him to 

 come at it and be captured. Therefore, on the 

 whole, the natural minnow is much the superior 

 of the two, and its superiority is most apparent 

 in very low and bright water. When the water 

 is pretty full and at all coloured, if using the arti- 

 ficial bait, I think a larger sized one should be 

 used, and I then prefer one of bright colour, 

 which will be highly conspicuous as it spins along. 



If one goes to such a shop as that of Mr. Far- 

 low's, in the Strand, and looks over his collections 

 of artificial minnows, or kill-devils, one will be 

 able to form some idea of the various fancies of 

 fishermen. Here one can see minnows of endless 

 varieties, each of which are pretty equally in 

 demand by their several admirers. 



The minnow, which I prefer for the North 

 Devon streams, is made of horn, and is partially 

 translucent. I get it from Mr. Farlow, or Mr. Holy- 

 royd, of Gracechurch Street ; it has a triplet at 

 the tail, another at the head, and a third in the 

 mi'ddle, and though I sometimes append more 

 hooks, I find generally that the spinning of the 



