86 ANGLING SKETCHES 



the bright silver of their sides, for their pink flesh, 

 and gameness when hooked. Theorists have 

 explained all this by saying that they are the 

 descendants of land-locked salmon. The flies 

 used on the loch are smaller than those favoured 

 in the Highlands ; they are sold attached to casts, 

 and four flies are actually employed at once. 

 Probably two are quite enough at a time. If a 

 veteran trout is attracted by seeing four flies, all 

 of different species, and these like nothing in 

 nature, all conspiring to descend on him at once, 

 he must be less cautious than we generally find 

 him. The Hampshire angler, of course, will sneer 

 at the whole proceeding, the 'chucking and 

 chancing it,' in the queer-coloured wave, and the 

 use of so man}' fanciful entomological specimens. 

 But the Hampshire angler is very welcome to try 

 his arts, in a calm, and his natural-looking cocked- 

 up flies. He will probably be defeated by a grocer 

 from Greenock, sinking his four flies very deep, as 

 is, by some experts, recommended. The trout are 

 capricious, perhaps as capricious as any known to 

 the angler, but they are believed to prefer a strong 



