MAY. 55 



stream. The glories of the stone fly are chiefly in the 

 dusk of night and early morn, when she hath no com- 

 peer. The green drake holds her court in the full 

 blaze of day, in undisputed majesty Queen of the 

 streams ; which, in clear waters, renders her less suc- 

 cessful to the angler, for the clear eye of the trout 

 catches every thing that flits within its vision the 

 form of the fisherman the wave of his rod or the 

 appendages to the falling fly, will rouse his fears, and 

 scare him from his food ; but on sunny days and dark 

 waters (when the green drakes are hatching) every 

 trout is on the watch hovering in the current like a 

 kite in the air wheeling from side to side, to snap the 

 passing prey ; and so intent upon it the imperial Em- 

 press may trot over their heads unnoticed. It is then 

 the natural fly fills the craftsman's pannier, and the 

 trout she kills are in their full prime and splendour. 

 The green drake is plentiful in all the streams of Ripon 

 the mill races and dams, which in summer are well 

 stocked with trout, abound with them particularly 

 above Bishopton mill, where the trout are the finest in 

 the neighbourhood, when feeding on the green drake. 

 She is tackled and fished natural, similar to the stone 

 fly, sometimes two on the hook, the heads contrary 

 way ; thrown lightly on the water and left to the motion 

 of the current. On fine calm hatching days artificials 

 have little or no chance, but may succeed on breezy 

 days and stirring waters. 



On a sunny afternoon early in June, I was sitting by 

 the side of the millrace just below Bishopton mill, enjoy- 

 ing a slight luncheon. To please my children, who had 

 brought it, I told them to catch me one of those flies, 



