74 A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



attraction, and, though we dare not confess it, we are 

 conscious of disappointment, we feel as if we had been 

 cheated of the most thrilling incident in the drama, 

 when the hawk fails in his 

 swoop and the hare success- 

 fully eludes the hounds. 

 Even minor tragedies are 

 not without interest for us ; \\J[ /A| 

 we eagerly follow the course / 



of an insect along the surface of the water, and calcu- 

 late its chances of escaping the observation of the fish 

 beneath, and when it succeeds in reaching the shelter 

 of the bank, we heave a sigh which is not always that 

 of satisfaction. In the fascination of the chase lies the 

 secret of the pleasure with which the angler gloats 

 over the floating fly and anticipates the moment which 

 decides its fate. 



The essential feature of dry-fly fishing is, as the 

 name implies, the employment of a dry or floating fly. 

 Whether a submerged fly fished as skilfully and with 

 the same extraordinary care would not, even on the 

 English chalk-stream, achieve results as satisfactory, is, 

 perhaps, not beyond a reasonable doubt. The practised 

 dry-fly fisher is certain that it would not, and he speaks, 

 presumably, from experience of both systems. I am, 



