ARE TROUT CUNNING? 121 



possible insects it may be. This thought 

 would find general approval in Scotland, 

 where even good fishermen say that if the 

 trout are really on the feed they will rise 

 at anything, and in Yorkshire, where 

 fishermen, when out on the becks, have 

 only a few flies, all hackles, which are 

 deemed sufficient at any time of the 

 season ; but it will not commend itself to 

 any one who has been closely observant 

 in angling from day to day. 



Even on a little-frequented mountain- 

 burn or moorland-stream, on which arti- 

 ficial lures are thrown only once or twice 

 a year, the trout invariably show a marked 

 preference for some particular fly. I have 

 never known an exception to this rule. 

 It is true that the trout in burns and 

 becks rise freely, and that you are almost 

 certain to catch some with whatever lures, 

 if they be not of unreasonable size, are on 

 the cast ; but this only makes their pre- 

 ference the more remarkable. Sometimes 

 it is a fly with a red body that attracts 

 them, sometimes a fly with a brown body. 



