26 TROUT FISHING 



and the scarlet Mayflies must have been 

 in a state of panic fearlessness. To 

 venture such a thought may at first seem 

 begging the question ; but that is perhaps 

 because, living in water, where we cannot 

 tarry to observe them, trout in some of 

 their moods are beyond our range of 

 knowledge. To say of a fish whose con- 

 duct is irregular that he must be off his 

 head seems even more inconsiderate than 

 saying the same thing of a man whose 

 doings are a perplexity. Of this I am 

 conscious ; and it is not upon an irrational 

 suggestion of mere bewilderment that I 

 rely in hoping to explain away the ruddy 

 Mayflies. 



Wild animals whose habits we can 

 observe closely and continuously some- 

 times behave in a manner which at first 

 sight is quite unaccountable. The ptar- 

 migan are so much in dread of man that 

 they stay habitually on the least easily 

 accessible boulders at the mountain tops ; 

 yet if you come upon a covey of them 

 unawares, they do not take the trouble 



