MAY-FLIES. 69 
It is true that some enthusiastic fly-fishers de- 
nounce blowing the fly as a rather unsportsmanlike 
mode of angling; when practised with an artificial 
fly it cannot well be defended on any grounds what- 
ever ; and in all rules for fishing clubs it ought to be 
forbidden. There is another mode of dibbing, how- 
ever, free from any such objections, for which the 
natural May-fly answers admirably. It not unfre- 
quently happens that a large trout takes up a position 
under the spreading branches of a tree, beneath a 
natural chevaus-de-frise, formed by a straggling ever- 
green thorn, or in some similar position, utterly unat- 
tainable by an artificial fly, though thrown by the 
deftest hand. Here, too, that large trout, the best in 
water, will remain till forcibly ejected by man, otter, or 
a stronger fish than itself; and if the tenant of one of 
those acquatic castles be captured one day, the next 
best fish in the neighbourhood will be in full posses- 
sion on the day after. Randal Holme had probably 
a fish of this description in his mind when he wrote, 
in his extraordinary Academy of Armory, that “trout 
are emblems of quiet, calm, and gentleness, such as 
love not to be in troubled waters, or to be tossed to and 
fro by the blustering of wicked and malevolent spirits, 
but rather live quiet at home, than enjoy abundance 
through labour and, trouble.” Whatever the trout 
may love, however, is beyond the question ; man likes 
to catch it, and the way to achieve a consummation 
