56 MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS 



and does not constitute a gaudy fly a standard one 

 for ordinary pool and stream fishing. Besides, 

 people often decide hastily in approbation of those 

 flies with which they raise salmon, whether the fish 

 touch their hook or not, thinking he has missed his 

 bite. I think very differently in such a case. The 

 fish lies quite at ease in the water, even in the gully- 

 rush of a cauld dyke-slap, and on a glance of a fly 

 moving over him, will sweep up in soft easy motion, 

 and follow it round the curve it describes with a dis- 

 cerning eye ; and on resolving to seize it, he will not 

 miss his bite once in twenty cases ; but when not 

 pleased with the fly, he will shy off, at which instant 

 you may often perceive a back-fin, or half the web of 

 his tail flap above the surface, or he will throw him- 

 self indignantly out of the water, and sinking back 

 with easy motion, return again to his old lair, his 

 chosen spot on the rock at the bottom of the river. 

 By overlooking an angler from an eminence, we may 

 see many fish rise coolly and examine his fly, of which 

 he himself has no perception, not being in a position 

 to perceive any that do not touch his fly or come up 

 above the surface. 



In regard to flies generally, either for salmon or 

 trout, I have in practice found it beneficial to attend 

 principally to a natural proportion of parts, which it 



