THE MAYFLY. 19 



evidently take leave of their senses for a fortnight or so, at 

 the close of May or beginning of June, and, of all ranks and 

 sizes, lay themselves out for unlimited gorge. Tlie angler, 

 however, places himself more on an equality with his game 

 if he forswears the live fly. If I were asked for my advice 

 I should say : — Seldom use any but the artificial Mayfly, if 

 you would live with a clear conscience ; then you will have 

 the additional gratification of knowing that the special 

 difficulty experienced in producing a really good imitation 

 is a slight set-ofif against the greediness of the trout at the 

 Mayfly period. 



Cotton, who even in these times of increasing piscatorial 

 wisdom and research very well holds his own as an authority 

 on fly-fishing, speaks of Mayflies as the "matadores for 

 trout and grayling," and he adds that they kill more fish 

 than all the rest, past and to come, in the whole year 

 besides. It should be remembered that Cotton was then 

 writing of the picturesque Dove, not so superbly stocked 

 with trout and grayling now as it was in his days, but still as 

 limpid and romantic as when Piscator welcomed his disciple 

 to the Vale of Ashbourn mth — " What ho ! bring us a 

 flagon of your best ale '' — the good Derbyshire ale which 

 Viator had the sense to prefer, scouting the idea that a man 

 should come from London to drink wine at the Peak. 



As a rule — and there are not many exceptions to it — the 

 flies that suit one river fail on another ; but the Mayfly is 

 the touch of nature which makes most rivers kin. With. 

 some allowance for difference of size, your Mayfly will 

 answer on any stream, or on lake and stream, during the 

 few days in which the green and grey drakes make the most 

 of their chequered existence. What Cotton wrote of the 



