THE TEMPERATURE 83 



habits in a lake are similar. They tend 

 towards the deeps when these are the 

 least uncomfortable parts of the water ; 

 but they prefer the shallows at other 

 times. 



Sometimes, on a midsummer's eve, one 

 goes out to fish all night ; and then, 

 whether the water be a lake or it be a 

 stream, an interesting movement by the 

 trout is invariably noticeable. They may 

 have been scared from their places in 

 moderate shallows during the day ; but 

 when night has fallen, and they cannot 

 see far into the dusk, they congregate in 

 waters which, in some cases, are hardly 

 more than enough to cover them. Often 

 at that time they come freely at large flies, 

 and at a black moth as readily as at a 

 white one. That is not because they are 

 then indifferent as to their food. It is 

 because colour gradually lapses as the 

 light wanes. If you sit in a garden after 

 sundown, all the hues in it will slowly, 

 slowly, fade, until the laurels, which were 

 green in the light, are dark ; until a rose 



