152 SALMONIA. 



and I suppose salmon know this, and search 

 for food at a time when it is likely to be 

 found. I cannot think that in these pools 

 they can be on the look-out for flies, for 

 there are none ever on the surface of the 

 water; and I imagine they take the gaudy 

 fly, with its blue kingfisher and golden phea- 

 sant's feathers, for a small fish. 



ORN. I have always supposed they took 

 it for a libella, or dragon-fly; for I have 

 often seen these brilliant flies haunting the 

 water. 



HAL. I never saw a dragon-fly drop on 

 the water, or taken by a fish; and salmon 

 sometimes rise even in the salt water, where 

 dragon flies are never found. There is no 

 difficulty in explaining why salmon in inland 

 rivers should take flies, where natural flies 

 are abundant; but fish, when they have lain 

 long in pools in the river and fed on natural 

 flies, will no longer take these bright flies, 

 and then even a trout fly is often most suc- 

 cessful. I have sometimes thought that the 

 rising of salmon and sea trout at these bright 

 flies, as soon as they come from the sea into 



