54 AN ANGLER'S SEASON 



wings are so much drooped that they 

 almost lie along the body ; in the other 

 the wings are so much cocked-up that 

 the tips of them are slightly in front of 

 the head. To what end was this variety 

 designed ? The general understanding 

 seems to be that Greenwell with the 

 upright wings, which came from the 

 Canon's original pattern, is an adaptation 

 to the conditions of dry-fly angling ; but 

 that belief, surely, is mistaken. If you 

 cast a cocked-wing Greenwell upstream 

 it will sit very prettily on the water ; but 

 you shall not have so many rises at it as 

 will reward you on plying a flat-wing 

 Greenwell similarly. Cast the upright 

 Greenwell across-stream, letting it move 

 round and down ; it then acquires an 

 attractiveness with which the flat-wing, 

 similarly used, cannot compete. Very 

 often the trout rise at it in wild eagerness. 

 The explanation is to be found in the 

 fact that the lure is being held, though 

 not violently, against the current. The 

 cocked wings, which are delicately elastic, 



