138 NOTES ON MSH AND PISHING. 



ambitious one ; nor is it intended to supply the place of 

 Guides, Instructors, and Vade Mecums. It is what is called 

 simply " Notes/' and the " Notes " on the different fish of 

 our waters are only "jottings" etymological, ichthyologi- 

 cal, piscatorial, or, to keep up the Greek terminology, 

 halieutical, and gastronomical ; and these thrown together 

 without much definite order. I cannot, therefore, under- 

 take to give a list of the trout rivers in the United King- 

 dom, their seasons and peculiarities, and much less a list 

 of the flies which by tradition and experience are said 

 to be best for each. All this and much more can 

 only be gathered from such books as I have mentioned 

 at the beginning of this note, to which I may add Mr. 

 Francis's Book on Angling, which has very recently and 

 most deservedly entered on another edition, Holland's 

 British Angler's Manual, which will never be out of 

 date, Hooper's Thames and Tweed, Ronald's Fly-Fisher's 

 Entomology, and Cutliffe's Trout-fishing in Rapid Streams. 

 But all anglers, unless they are well acquainted with 

 the water they are about to fish, should endeavour to 

 gain personal information from their friends or others 

 about it. Information thus gained should supplement all 

 book knowledge, and would often prevent a fruitless 

 expedition. 



Ply-fishing — i.e. whipping the stream with an artificial 

 fly is, I need hardly say, the most orthodox way of fishing 

 for the common trout. It is also the most artistic. It is 

 also the most enjoyable. It would be difficult to say what 

 pursuit, sport, or pastime can yield such genuine pleasure 

 as a day's fly-fishing along a pretty river does to the 

 angler who has the accomplishments and tastes I have 

 credited to him : say along the Teign, the Dart, the 



