92 A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



that the flies on the otter are seized by trout after trout, 

 though those already hooked are plunging and struggling 

 on the line. The trout is incapable of profiting by the 

 misfortunes of his fellows ; is, indeed, incapable of 

 realizing that they are in misfortune. His emotions at 

 sight of others in distress are vague, formless, indefinite. 

 They are not based on intelligent appreciation of the 

 situation ; they are purely reflex. His fear, if he has 

 any, is not the fear of a known peril ; it is without a 

 recognised cause ; it is the same unreasoning panic 

 which sometimes seizes man himself and sends him 

 fleeing in terror from a danger he would find it impos- 

 sible to name. Whatever its source, however, the 

 excitement of the trout will probably divert him from 

 thoughts of food, and the angler is wise to preserve the 

 tranquillity of the water in front of him. 



It is generally believed that when the angler is 

 fishing up-stream he is more likely to hook the trout 

 that rise to him than when fishing in the opposite 

 direction. The belief is based on the assumption that 

 the up-stream angler strikes towards the trout, while the 

 down-stream angler strikes away from it. If it be true., 

 as is commonly supposed, that when the rise to the 

 submerged fly is seen, the trout has already secured the 

 fly or missed it and has turned to go down again, the 



