ix FESTIVAL OF GREEN DRAKE 147 



than about four varieties, and of the four 

 this one with the rather small grey wings 

 and brown body with gold twist is my 

 favourite. If I cannot succeed with this I 

 sometimes put on that little buttercup 

 yellow ; it is not in the least like any drake 

 that ever left the mud, but the trout some- 

 times take it well. Then there is the spent 

 gnat, a curious lop-sided thing that floats 

 with its wings flat on the water : I usually 

 put that on in the evening when the fish are 

 feeding quietly close under the banks on the 

 myriads of dead flies that come floating 

 down. The fourth pattern is the " straddle- 

 bug," really, I believe, supposed to be an 

 imitation of the sub-imago as it is in the act 

 of emerging from its case. In effect it makes 

 a very good hackle May-fly, and is at times 

 killing. 



Now we are ready, and we must keep 

 our eyes wide and seriously open for a rising 

 fish. What is that right opposite, a long 

 shadow lying close under the clay bank in 

 the little bay ? It is a fish, sure enough, but 

 at this distance of nearly twenty yards I 

 cannot determine its kind. Yes, see, it has 

 just lifted up a lazy head and taken some 



