FISHES. 
47 
of fly-fishing, and to my fancy is the pleasantest 
element of success that can be used in any pur- 
suit.”^ 
The scenes in which the angler pursues his 
pleasant avocations are among the most delightful 
that Nature yieldsi The broad river, meandering 
through the meadows, here and there widening 
into calm and placid pools, that reflect in mirror- 
like perfectness the pollard- willows on the bank, 
and allow the eye to trace without difliculty the 
ruby-finned Roach and Perch, the gleaming 
Chu]j, and the speckled Trout, as they play or 
dart through the crystal element, cannot but be 
delightful ; especially at that sweet season when 
spring is just maturing into summer, when the 
turf is full of scented flowers, the groves and 
hedges, dressed in the freshest livery of yellow- 
green, are pouring forth wild gushes of melody 
from a thousand throats, and myriads of painted 
flies and humming insects are enlivening the 
scene around. Here the bottom-fisher delights 
to station himself, quietly and patiently pursuing 
his sport until his pannier is full, or his leisure 
exhausted. And in such peaceful streams the 
more presumptuous troller spins his minnow, and 
calls his strength of limb and agility into exer- 
cise, as he drags from his hole the ferocious 
Pike. 
But the fly-fisher resorts to widely different 
scenes. The swift torrent that pours down the 
mountain side, or roars along the narrow and 
frowning ravine ; that here chafes and boils between 
moss-covered rocks, and there dashes over a rocky 
ledge in a sheet of foam; now forms a chain of 
* Ephemera on Angling, p. 6. 
