APPEARANCES OF FLIES, IN THE WATEK. 25 



but I advise the student to try both ways, and 

 then judge for himself. 



In what precise shape artificial flies floating on 

 the water, or just beneath it, present themselves to 

 the fish, I cannot truly tell. They certainly cannot 

 present themselves in the exact living forms of 

 natural insects, but their appearance must be 

 something like them. If I were to guess, I should 

 say that the artificial flies for the common trout 

 and grayling present the appearance of drowning, 

 or drowned natural flies ; or of living insects 

 struggling on, or underneath the water. I do 

 not think this surmise fanciful. At any rate the 

 fly-fisher should endeavour to present his arti- 

 ficial baits to the fish as deceptively as possible, 

 that is, by giving them as natural an appear- 

 ance as may be. He must cause them to drop 

 lightly on the water, because the natural fly does 

 so; he must cause them to swim down as near the 

 surface as he can, because the natural fly moves 

 upon the surface of the water, and he must im- 

 part motion to his flies, a species of fluttering, 

 generally speaking, being the best. All this is 

 comprehended by the expression " humouring " 

 one's flies. To do it, the moment your flies 

 alight upon the water hold up your rod, so that 

 the drop-fly next to it may appear skimming the 

 surface ; the other two, if properly proportioned 

 and attached to the casting-line, being ever so 



