84 TROUT FISHING 



cannot be distinguished from a lily ; until, 

 indeed, there is left only a general black- 

 ness. That is not because you cannot see 

 the colours. It is because the colours are 

 not there to see. Colours are light, light 

 in subtle distributions among matter ; and 

 when the light goes, colours also gradu- 

 ally cease to be. That is why in the 

 darkening a black fly is as good as a white 

 one. In the eyes of the trout there is 

 no difference. Each is only a thing 

 which moves, and therefore seems to live, 

 dimly seen. There is a greater wonder 

 to be pondered by the water-side at night. 

 Why are the fish, among which there 

 may be salmon and sea-trout, gathered so 

 closely in the shallow bays ? Is it for 

 warmth ? I do not think so : the deeps, 

 even at midsummer, would be warmer 

 still. I hesitate over my own conjecture ; 

 but it may be given. I think that the 

 fish have come in, out of the current 

 if the water is a stream, to be free 

 from pressure if it is a lake, to bed. 

 There is always a time in any night when 



