120 ARTIFICIAL FLIES. 
ledge of the flies, and nature and system of the art, than 
many years of angling, and is often the shortest way to the 
favorite. The wheelings of the black and blue gnats, in 
sunny calms and clear waters—the trotting of the stone fly, 
and the majestic floating of the green drake—overmatch 
the craftsman’s art. Nature reigns there supreme, when 
her own works only can avail the flyfisher. The first cast 
of his artificials comes the nearest ; they float for an instant 
and oft flatter him with a rise, or by chance a fish, but in 
a cast or two more they are, disfigured, dishevelled, and 
drowned, and so must continue during his sport. Many of 
the small flies perish at hatching and laying times, and are 
immersed in the water, when we may suppose they are 
taken by the fish. We may also suppose that good imita- 
tions, being somewhat elastic and of better stamina, will 
maintain their appearance better in the water than the 
drowned shrouded-up natural flies, and will better preserve 
their shape and expression, the gleam and tinge of linger- 
ing life, which is the test of the fly, and the attraction of 
the fish. Be these as they may, certain it is that the fish 
will readily take good imitations of the small fly they are 
feeding off, by the panniers of fine trout, grayling, and 
smelt, so frequently killed by the first class of small fly- 
fishers. 
These hints and observations are the leading landmarks 
and guides in the flymaker’s track, paced by persevering 
craft to the last sentence ; and if, flyfishers, these hours of 
idleness, casually spent in fifty seasons, give zest to the 
sport of your days and lend you a lift on your way, I'll not 
begrudge the years—if not, pace on, for I have done. 
Note.—On our northern streams, such as the Yore and 
Wharfe, artificial flies are usually dressed hacklewise, and 
as a general rule they will be found to kill as well, if 
not better, than the winged patterns; the reason for this 
