THE FLY 53 



that certain colours are more fatally fascinating to the 

 trout than others, not because they bear a closer re- 

 semblance to those of the natural fly, but because they 

 are more readily detected. They do not deceive the 

 trout ; they merely attract his attention. In the dusk 

 a light fly is more successful than a dark by reason of 

 its greater visibility, not because of its superior se- 

 ductiveness. The artifice of the dark fly may be as 

 skilfully concealed, but in the gathering gloom its 

 presence on the water is less easily perceived. Could 

 Stewart revisit the glimpses of the moon, his views 

 would probably be found to coincide with those of 

 Sir Herbert Maxwell, for it is obvious that in his 

 discussion of the artificial fly he is less concerned 

 about its colour than its tone. 



Even on a question so simple as this, however, 

 anglers are still far from unanimity. While agreeing 

 that the colour of the lure should suit that of the 

 water and the quantity and the quality of the light, they 

 are widely divergent in their conceptions of the means 

 by which the desired harmony is to be attained. We 

 are advised by one to employ a dark fly for a dull day 

 or a brown water, and a light fly for a bright day or a 

 clear water, while in the opinion of another we should 

 adopt a practice diametrically opposed to that In a 



