are held decumbent, or close to the sides. They fly heavily, and are produced from aquatic larvæ called caddis-bait or case-worms, remarkable for their curious dwelling-places, which are hollow tubes composed of sand, small shells, and pieces of wood, agglutinated together, and made heavier or lighter according to circumstances, that they may the more easily sink or swim. They are open at either end, and the worm crawls along the stones and gravel, by protruding its legs at the anterior extremity. They disencumber themselves from their aquatic habitations, and assume the winged state in spring and the earlier part of summer. Secondly, the different kinds of May flies (Ephemera), called green drakes, &c. are also produced from larvæ, which, for a long time previous to their appearance as perfect insects, have inhabited the waters. There are many species of this genus, all of which are greedily sought for by trout. They are easily known by their tapering abdomens, veined wings, short antennæ, and the long slender setæ or hairs which terminate their bodies. They chiefly abound from May to midsummer. Thirdly, The small black or ant-fly, is the winged female of the common black ant, and occurs in the nests or hills of that insect during the summer and autumnal months.

There is scarcely any season of the year, excepting an ice-bound winter, in which an experienced angler may not successfully ply his trade. In the

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Although Izaak Walton, that "great master in the art of angling," informs us that no man should in honesty catch a trout till the middle of March, yet the grayling is in best condition during the

mid-summer season, when the pools are very clear and shallow, and the streams almost dried up, little can be done without a stirring breeze; so also after a heavy summer flood, immediately ensuing a continuance of dry weather, when the mountain torrents are a sheet of dingy foam, and the crystal depths of the river are converted for a time into an opaque flow of muddy water, the fly-fisher's occupation's gone. But when the turmoil ceases, and the soft south wind begins to disperse or break in upon the dense array of clouds, so as to chequer the streams, and rocks, and "pastoral melancholy" of the green mountains with the enlivening beams of the returning sun, with what pleasure does the angler approach the banks of a favourite and accustomed river! How various and delightful are his sensations! Custom cannot stale their infinite variety. On the contrary, the longer and more assiduously the pleasure is pursued, the greater the immediate enjoyment, and the more extended the train of agreeable remembrances for after days. How exciting the first cast into a breeze-ruffled pool, when the unwetted gut still lies in rebellious and unyielding circles on the surface, and yet almost at the same moment the

winter season. "I do assure you," says Charles Cotton, in the second part of the Complete Angler, " which I remember by a very remarkable token, I did once take, upon the sixth day of December, one and only one, of the biggest graylings, and the best in season, that ever I yet saw or tasted; and do usually take trouts too, and with a fly, not only before the middle of this month, but, almost every year in February, unless it be a very ill spring indeed; and have sometimes in January, so early as new-year's tide, and in frost and snow taken grayling in a warm sun-shine day for an hour or two about noon; and to fish for him with a grub it is then the best time of all."

sounding reel gives notice that these circles have been instantaneously stretched into a straight and tightened line! Then comes the long and continuous vibration of rod and reel, indicating the secure hooking of a goodly fish; or that sullen and pulselike tug, by which a still goodlier one, when hooked in a deep pool, frequently manifests a desire to dig its way to the bottom; or that more interrupted music which results from the fantastic leaps of some whimsical individual, which skims and flounders on the top of the water like a juvenile wild-duck.

The ordinary rules for fly-fishing are, to be most assiduous when the streams are somewhat disturbed and increased by rain,-when the day is cloudy, and the waters moved by a gentle breeze, especially from the south. If the river contains long placid pools, then a steady stirring breeze is very desirable, as angling in such situations resembles lake-fishing, where little can be achieved upon a glassy surface. If the wind is low and the weather clear, of course the best angling is in the swiftest streams, and in those curling and perturbed eddies which head the smoother depths. In fishing the smoother pools of no great depth, be careful that the shadows of neither rod nor angler come upon the surface; but if a person is skilful in other respects and able to swim-he need not fear his own shadow on a broad river, but wade boldly down the centre of the stream, fishing its various depths and currents before him and on either side. In clear rivers the flies should be small and rather slenderwinged; but when the waters are muddy or in

WILLING TO WOUND BUT YET AFRAID TO STRIKE. 29

creased by rain, a larger lure may be made use of. When the streams are brown with rain, an orangecoloured fly is good; in very clear weather a lightcoloured one; and a dark fly, with a turn or two of gold or silver twist, is advisable for troubled waters.

Though a great deal, no doubt, depends on a quick eye and an active and delicate hand, we are no great advocates for what is called striking a fish. If a large trout rises in a deep pool, it may be of advantage so to do; and this will be sufficiently accomplished by inclining the rod quickly upwards or aside (if in the latter direction, then towards the tail of the fish, so as not to drag the fly from its mouth), in such a manner as to draw out a few inches of the line; for if the reel is not allowed to run, this operation is apt to snap the gut, or otherwise injure the tackle. But if a trout, whether great or small, rises in a current or rapid stream, the sudden change in its position, immediately after it has seized the fly, is generally quite sufficient to fix the barb, without any exertion on the part of the angler.

A variable state of the atmosphere is not good for angling; but neither is a uniformly dull gloomy day the most favourable. It is scarcely possible to lay down any general rules on this branch of the subject, and this is of the less consequence, seeing that although we may "Tax the elements with unkindness," we can no more gladden a gloomy or subdue a glaring day, than when desirous to cross a ford, we can add a cubit to our stature.

We

have angled in vain through many a bright consummate morn,-no" dread magnificence" in heaven, and when the odds in our favour were as a salmon

to a sand-eel. We have half filled a pannier during an electric hail-storm, when "sky lowered and muttered thunder," and the aspect of the day was such as to deter more experienced though less zealous sportsmen from leaving the shelter of their homes. But if the river is not too low, we always prefer what in ordinary language might be called a fine cheerful day, more particularly if there is a fresh breeze. And what we would more particularly press upon the notice of the angler, as soon as he becomes master of the line, is that he should cast his flies more frequently than is the usual practice, and, generally speaking, fish rapidly. This should be more especially attended to in streams where the trout are numerous and not large.

Before enumerating and describing the different kinds of artificial flies in greatest repute, we shall mention a few of the principal materials used by the fly-fisher. The articles which he employs, in common with those who prosecute the other branches of the trade, are of course, rods, hair and gut lines, reels and hooks, panniers and landing-nets; but, in addition to these he must be provided with a great variety of feathers, such as the slender plumes called hackles, from the necks and backs of common poultry, and the wings of a considerable number of birds, such as woodcocks, snipes, rails, plovers, ducks, grouse, partridges, and others. The furs of quadrupeds are also indispensable; and of these the