LOOSE STRANDS 187 



to ask, should he do anything so obviously superfluous? 

 Since he finds the angler's artifice beneath the surface, 

 it should be patent, even to a fish, that his purpose 

 being already accomplished he may conserve his ener- 

 gies for future use. As there seems nothing to prevent 

 him from taking the fly at once, why should he delay 

 and, while needlessly endeavouring to drown it, give it 

 an opportunity of making its escape ? I am unable, 

 like some anglers, to penetrate the obscurity of his 

 piscine mind, but I fancy that he shuns dispensable 

 exertion with a good- will equal to our own. We are 

 usually inclined to magnify the trout's intelligence, but 

 in this particular instance we credit him with the pos- 

 session of a very feeble wit. 



Two varieties of the rise are described by a recent 

 writer. In one, the trout rises with the object of taking 

 the fly from below, but the velocity of his approach 

 carries him beyond his goal and he involuntarily leaves 

 the water ; in the other, he deliberately springs into the 

 air with the intention of seizing the fly in his descent 

 The author referred to pretends to be able to dis- 

 tinofuish between the two. The trout which is borne 

 above the water by the impetus of his approach, drops 

 back at once ; the other, with the object of steadying 

 his aim, checks for a moment his aerial flight. Even 



