188 A SCOTTISH FLY-FISHER 



those who accept without question the most marvellous 

 tales of the trout's sagacity may hesitate to believe 

 him physically capable of maintaining, if but for the 

 fraction of a second, his position in the air. Surely 

 there is no occasion to seek a motive for his conduct. 

 It is entirely purposeless ; it is, I think, in every case 

 the necessary result of the speed at which he nears the 

 surface. The angler rarely secures a trout which, in 

 rising to the fly, leaps from the water. When he does, 

 it is generally hooked foul ; should the hook be found 

 in its mouth, it is more than likely that it was taken on 

 the rise. The trout, to be sure, does at times forsake 

 his native element with the object of capturing a fly, 

 but only when the brief excursion is essential to the 

 attainment of his aim. I have more than once seen a 

 trout spring at an insect flitting over the water, and I 

 have killed many on the upper bob-fly as it dangled in 

 the air an inch or two above the surface. 



Our opportunities of observing the manner in which 

 the trout approaches the fly are comparatively infre- 

 quent. Mr. Hamish Stuart, who records many interest- 

 ing observations on the habits of that fish, describes 

 two incidents which came under his notice and serve to 

 elucidate the subject. My experience has been trifling 

 compared with his, but I have been, on several occa- 



