154 A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



low-brown little crustacean is not very obvious ; is, 

 indeed, so far from obvious that, if the trout be capable 

 of confounding them, the contention of Sir Herbert 

 Maxwell must be held as proved. To a fish not colour- 

 blind, the distinction between the two must be glaringly- 

 apparent. Even assuming that the trout may fail to 

 distinguish the colour of the fly, is it credible that he 

 can mistake an object as big as a butterfly — the lure is 

 sometimes dressed large — for the diminutive gammarus.-* 

 But, since the lure in question seems to bear a re- 

 semblance to a great variety of things, the angler need 

 not let the matter disturb his equanimity ; he will find 

 the practical utility of the fly quite unaffected by our 

 theories of its origin, 



"Of course," writes Mr. Andrew Lang, "on a 

 Sutherland loch one man is as good as another ; the 

 expert no better than the duffer." There is a general 

 impression that even on lochs less remote all anglers 

 are in a position of equality. The genesis of the im- 

 pression is not hard to trace. The loch, except in a 

 calm, affords little opportunity for the exercise of skill. 

 Casting ceases to be an art; the angler has but to raise 

 his rod, and his flies, borne forward on the favouring 

 breeze, fall softly on the water. Knowledge of the 

 habits of the trout is a useless possession ; it gives the 



