MAY 111 



by nineteen out of every twenty anglers upon visiting a 

 new river is ' What are the right flies ? ' 



Meanwhile, should the fancy ever revert to the ancient 

 type of fly, one at least of the old patterns will be very 

 hard to supply — to wit, the dun-turkey with light tips. 

 The bird which gave the feathers is wellnigh extinct. 

 Five-and-twenty years ago the chances were in favour of 

 the ' bubblyjock ' in a Scottish farmyard being of a sandy 

 brown, with the edge of each feather upon his back 

 passing into whitish fawn. Nowadays one never, or 

 hardly ever, sees such a bird. All turkeys show the dark 

 metallic tints of the wild American strain. It is interest- 

 ing, by the bye, to note that Ireland was the birthplace of 

 brilliant salmon flies. To this day one hears them spoken 

 of in Scotland as ' Irish patterns,' which may be taken as 

 evidence that the artistic sense of the Celt is not yet ex- 

 tinct, and that the delight and skill which he displayed of 

 yore in bejewelling the pages of the ' Book of KeUs ' now 

 find gratification in dainty designs for salmon flies. 



Well, I have wandered unpardonably from my text ; let 

 me hark back to the Linn of Bargrennan, where I made 

 great parade of preparation for business. It is an 

 awkward place to fish, for the cliffs are high and perpen- 

 dicular, and stand-points are few and far between. How- 

 ever, I clambered down to a secure foothold, and began 

 flinging the little Kanger, gradually lengthening the line 

 till the power of the fifteen footer was about at its limit. 

 Then something happened: the line stopped — a sunken 

 rock, was it ? No ! There was a delightful sensation of 

 kicking — gentle at first, then more vigorous. In him, ! 

 and the next question was how to get him ovA, of that 

 swift, deep water. Well, the fish must tire himself first; 



