312 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



I would further advise that your leaders should be 

 stained as nearly as possible to the color of the water ; but 

 care should always be taken not to make them too dark, as 

 you thus go to the opposite extreme that you adopt this 

 plan to avoid. Brown and a bluish- gray or light neutral 

 tint are decidedly the best colors, the former to be used 

 when the water is clearing out after heavy falls of rain. 

 To procure the first-mentioned color, a few ounces of alum 

 dissolved with a pound of the bark of the walnut-tree when 

 the sap is up, I think, is the simplest recipe ; while the lat- 

 ter color can be got by substituting logwood for walnut. 



Of course^ as the season advances and the quantity of 

 water diminishes, and the noonday sun becomes more 

 powerful, the size of your flies must be proportionately less. 

 Even the hours of the day have to be consulted for choice 

 of size; for instance, from break of day till sunrise, and 

 from sunset till dark, very large flies frequently will kill 

 fish, while the smaller would be totally neglected. 



An Irish gentleman who had for many years been con- 

 sidered one of the most successful and expert performers 

 on the river Corib, while on a fishing tour in America, had 

 the kindness to show me the treasures contained in his 

 valuable fly-book. Among a remarkably choice collection 

 of all sizes, shades, and construction, I observed many so 

 large that they excited my curiosity and inquiry. These 

 were several inches long in the body, and were commonly 

 used in Galway for early morning or late evening fishing. 



Those projecting an excursion to the distant wilds of 

 Labrador should pay particular attention to arriving there 

 at the correct season. As to specifying a day or a week, 

 that is perfectly impossible, for as long as the water is im- 

 pregnated with snow not a fish will be taken ; and, of 

 course, the lateness or earliness of spring, which frequently 

 varies one or two weeks, must receive consideration and 



