312 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 
I would further advise that your leaders should be 
stained as nearly as possible to the color of the water; but 
care should always be taken not to make them too dark, as 
you thus go to the opposite extreme that you adopt this 
plan to avoid. Brown and a bluish- gray or light neutral 
tint are decidedly the best colors, the former to be used 
when the water is clearing out after heavy falls of rain. 
To procure the first-mentioned color, a few ounces of alum 
dissolved with a pound of the bark of the walnut-tree when 
the sap is up, I think, is the simplest recipe; while the lat- 
ter color can be got by substituting logwood for walnut. 
Of course, as the season advances and the quantity of 
water diminishes, and the noonday sun becomes more 
powerful, the size of your flies must be proportionately less. 
Even the hours of the day have to be consulted for choice 
of size; for instance, from break of day till sunrise, and 
from sunset till dark, very large flies frequently will kill 
fish, while the smaller would be totally neglected. 
An Irish gentleman who had for many years been con- 
sidered one of the most successful and expert performers 
on the river Corib, while on a fishing*tour in America, had 
the kindness to show me the treasures contained in his 
valuable fly-book. Among a remarkably choice collection 
of all sizes, shades, and construction, I observed many so 
large that they excited my curiosity and inquiry. These 
were several inches long in the body, and were commonly 
used in Galway for early morning or late evening fishing. 
Those projecting an excursion to the distant wilds of 
Labrador should pay particular attention to arriving there 
at the correct season. As to specifying a day or a week, 
that is perfectly Mpossible, for as long as the water is im- 
pregnated with snow not a fish will be taken; and, of 
course, the lateness or earliness of spring, which frequently 
varies ohe or two weeks, must receive consideration and 
. 
