KINSHIP WITH THE ARTS 29 



witnessed the wonderful excitement in a 

 river during the Mayfly time will readily 

 realise that then the fish will rush at any- 

 thing which seems alive. 



After all, then, as a test of the trout's 

 sense of colour, Sir Herbert Maxwell's 

 experiments are not by any means con- 

 clusive. According to general experience, 

 the sense of colour at ordinary times is 

 marvellously acute. Who cannot recall a 

 day on which the trout showed a prefer- 

 ence for some fly so marked as to be 

 practically absolute ? The fact which is 

 implicit in that question need not be 

 dwelt upon. It is one of the most 

 familiar phenomena of the sport. If the 

 fish are rising at a dark dun, a pale dun 

 will not do. If you have been catching 

 trout after trout on a woodcock with 

 hare's-ear, you may try a woodcock with 

 red hackle in vain. The presence or the 

 absence of a touch of tinsel on a hook 

 often makes all the difference between 

 success and failure. Some days the tinsel 

 is desired ; on others it is forbidding. 



