A KILLING FLY. 331 



retreats of the spotted, brilliant-hued trout again teeming 

 with their numbers, and the placid, sheltered pools, now 

 still and tenantless, boiling with their breaks and rises as 

 they either roll over in sport, or rush headlong to the sur- 

 face after the dainty and fragile ephemera. 



A lady, who formed one of our party frequently of an 

 evening, without moving from the bridge, took a .dozen 

 fish in an hour or so, plainly proving that even the unini- 

 tiated can here be successful, for madame previously had 

 never seen a trout captured in her life. The flies which we 

 should recommend for this stream are about the same in 

 size as those in use on Scotch and Irish rivers, and of the 

 same coloring, black and red hackles being preferable. We 

 also found a fly constructed as follows most killing: the 

 wings from the tail of the ruffed grouse, with a few strands 

 of scarlet ibis, brown cock's hackle under wings ; body of 

 ground-hog's fur, plucked off the stomach,- with a couple 

 of strands of guinea-fowl feather for tail. If the water 

 should have been discolored with rain, substitute a little of 

 the golden pheasant top-knot for the termination, instead 

 of the guinea-fowl. By coming here early in the season, 

 as above advised, you will moreover escape the attacks of 

 those confounded pests, the black flies, which generally 

 make their appearance the second week of June, when 

 woe betide you ; for, if you are compelled to submit to 

 their persecutions, your tortures from the results might 

 turn your hair gray in a night, or drive you crazy for the 

 remainder of life. No one can sympathize with the unfor- 

 tunate Egyptians so well as he who has visited the Maine 

 fishing regions in the fly season. 



Before leaving Upton for the wilds, as by this name your 

 future resting-places may well be called, we would revert 

 to the practice of throwing sawdust that comes from mills 

 into the water. Now, although some may not be aware of 



