MAY. 59 
Wings, amber feather tipped with black, from the cock- 
pheasant’s breast ; body orange silk, with a few fibres of 
orange mohair at the breast for legs. 
Note.—Numerous swarms of different flies now meet 
their arch enemy, the swift, which, like a winged dart, cleaves 
their devoted ranks. The angler’s list shrinks when com- 
pared with the vast varieties. House flies, spinners, beetles, 
etc., increase and expand their species far beyond the ken 
of the flyfisher—whose skill is often foiled when the fish 
are rising around him at some fly or insect known to them- 
selves only. Mauy of the choicest species of the three 
aquatic tribes, the brown drakes and duns, are this month in 
their greatest numbers and virgin freshness ; while trout are 
exceedingly bold and their appetites keen. The needle, Royal 
Charlie ; light mottled, and bloa browns ; the blue, brown, 
red brown, checkwing, iron blue, dark, and light drakes ; 
also the light and freckled duns, etc., are all hatching and 
on the water, more or less, daily ; and the gravel spinners 
are in their best perfection. All these are first-rate day flies 
for trout, and may be used at the times of hatching, or such 
as are most numerous on the water, or the fish are taking. 
Any others hitherto mentioned may be selected from the 
list, and tried with or without the hackles. Some of the 
duns and drakes assemble, on warm evenings, this month, 
and lay their eggs on the water, which commences evening 
fishing. The three superiors—the stone fly, green drake, 
and red dun—are in conjunction this month. The stone 
fly commences her imperial reign about the eighth, and the 
green drake about the twenty-fourth. When the weather 
is genial, at the times of hatching and coming on the water 
of these two flies, the trout generally take their fulth of 
them in preference to all others, when the natural flies only 
can succeed ; but if rude, stormy weather then prevails, it 
gives good imitations a chance. The red dun isa fine large 
F 
