Chapt. vii. The little Baril a game fly taker. 109 



rivers on the other coast it may or may not be equally 

 found, I have not the experience to say decidedly ; but I 

 should conclude it is equally abundant there, as I have 

 found it in plenty near the source of the Toombudra in 

 Mysore. It is a markedly pretty little fish, and will be 

 readily recognizable by the angler when caught, from its 

 colour, which is a bluish grey, fading to white on the 

 abdomen, and especially by the metallic, silvery blue 

 spots along the sides, shining like burnished steel; and 

 the whole is prettily set off by the fins being tipped with 

 white. It is small, not running larger than a hungry 

 beck trout of a quarter of a pound and under. It is 

 however plentiful and a free fly taker, and to be fished 

 for just as for a trout. Any small trout fly will go down 

 with it, and I have had on simultaneously one red, 

 one dun, and one black, and they have taken kindly to 

 them all, and sometimes two and three have been pulled 

 out at once, just as little beck trout are at home. 



But for choice, black seems to be the favourite colour 

 for these little fellows, as well as for the Mahseer, per- 

 haps because it is most quickly seen against the light; 

 and a friend, who is a good fisherman, so far believes in 

 it, that he mounts his collar with all three black, such 

 as the black gnat, small black palmer, and like flies 

 black or nearly black. 



Why it should be so fancied I do not know, for I do 

 not remember to have ever seen black natural flies on 

 the water in India. I have noticed a reddish fly very 

 much like the Red Spinner in colour, though nearly the 



