154 In Pursuit of the Trout 



But the angler is not, as a rule, wont to 

 hang about the town bridge. He prefers a 

 long day in the meadows of the Clear, and 

 at no season of the year are these so inviting 

 as in may-fly time, while the freshness of the 

 summer still lingers. Before June has half 

 gone, the youth and gaiety, the abandon, of 

 the summer are in a way things of the past. 

 The season is middle-aged and inclined to be 

 staid. The warblers have ceased their songs 

 by day and by night, save in a very few in- 

 stances, and the foliage of even the latest 

 trees has lost the tender verdure of spring. 

 But at may-fly season the summer has scarcely 

 lost any pleasant feature, and this is, on the 

 whole, perhaps above all others the time to 

 fully enjoy the river-side. 



The may-fly is in these days often abused 

 and described as the most disappointing of 

 insects. ' It 's been a bad may-fly season 

 everywhere,' one has too frequently heard 

 anglers declare, and certainly my own ex- 

 periences have been of a rather disappointing 

 character, so far as heavy bags at this time 



