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dun (No. 2 in our list) dressed with dark materials, or the red fly for the dropper, with the red palmer for stretcher, all dressed full and on hooks Nos. 3 and 4, Kendal, are as good as any that can be selected. In Devonshire, the almost universal use of the red palmer has passed into a proverb, and the fame of the fly is certainly not undeserved. Its general colour is of that happy medium" which harmonises with most states of the water and atmosphere, and the numerous shades to which it may be varied, in its hackle, and by the omission or otherwise of gold or silver twist on its body -render it peculiarly valuable. We therefore strongly recommend its use in the spring and autumn, dressing it with gold twist only for dark and windy days. We do not like a purely red hackle so well as one with a black list or a furnace hackle, as it is called that is, a hackle with red tips and black close to the quill, as already described in the Chapter on Flymaking. The blue dun, also, as we have before stated, forms an excellent lure, and is not at all less deservedly famed than the palmer. Like the latter, too, its colour admits of so much variation-the shades of blue being so numerousthat it will suit almost every state of the water

and of the atmosphere; and, moreover, it forms, when dressed properly, a more exact and insectlike imitation of the natural fly than many of the productions in which nature is poetically said

"To live again in art."

You will find that in the beginning of February the trout generally haunt the deep and still parts of the river, to fish which a breeze is necessary; but that in open weather they will, even at that early period, begin to feed in the tails of stickles, and in the gravelly shallows, advancing gradually upwards as the summer approaches. Whatever the season, you should never omit taking advantage of a windy day, when the surface of the water is ruffled, to fish the deep parts of the river, — the ranges, as they are piscatorially de

nominated. These you should fish slowly and carefully, upwards or downwards as the wind may render more convenient, making your first cast under the bank on which you stand, the next towards the middle of the stream, and so on, cast after cast, towards the other side, taking care to place yourself, whenever practicable, opposite to a higher bank than that on which you stand, in order to be less in the view of your watchful and

timid game. You will soon discover the most likely places in which to make your main casts. If the fish do not give you sufficient indication of their whereabouts, by rising, your next best guide will be the course given by the current (if any) to their winged prey, which you will discern floating in regular line, or else driven by the wind into sundry sheltered nooks and corners behind bushes, tufts of grass, and other similar places, in which you will most likely find the trout at home, making a sly and quiet meal. Offer him your flies for a dessert. Perhaps we need hardly state that the angler should endeavour at all times to fish with the wind blowing from behind him, with the view to its assistance in throwing his line; but should he at any time, when fishing in that position during a sun gleam, find the fish suddenly cease rising as he approaches, and refuse every temptation which he may offer, he need be at no loss to account for the circumstance, if he find the sun also at his back thereby throwing his shadow and that of his rod upon the river, and thus exposing all his movements to the fish. We do not attach much importance to the quarter whence the wind blows, though in spring and autumn a south or west,

and in summer a north or even an east breeze may be preferable. In February and the early part of March it is generally of very little use to fish before eleven or after two o'clock, and you need not be so particular in selecting cloudy weather as you must be at a more advanced period; indeed, a few gleams of sunshine are of advantage at this early season, and for the double reason of their hatching flies and rousing the fish.

On rivers which do not breed the May-fly, April is decidedly the best month of the year. The fish are then sufficiently vigorous to frequent the swiftest stickles, chiefly haunting their sides, and they are very active in pursuit of flies, which appear in numerous and tempting variety. But it may be necessary to explain, that in speaking of swift stickles we do not refer to the mere shallows, which only contain the smallest fish, to capture which, as we have elsewhere endeavoured to impress upon the reader, is to the true sportsman completely infra dig.; while at the same time it is an unpardonable act of wanton and inconsiderate destruction. The stickles to which we do refer will not be mistaken by any one who really wishes to understand and not to pervert our meaning. The advice of the Poet of the

Seasons should ever be remembered, and it is given in very beautiful language:

"If yet too young, and easily deceiv'd,

A worthless prey scarce bends your pliant rod,
Him, piteous of his youth and the short space
He has enjoy'd the vital light of heaven,

Soft disengage, and back into the stream
The speckled captive throw."

The most beautiful flies on the water in April are, the yellow dun and the iron blue or Scotchman; and their imitations, if neatly dressed on No. 1. Kendal hooks, and used with very fine and round gut, are as good as anything that can be constructed in the shape of flies. They should be used from eleven till about three o'clock, before and after which time, perhaps, some of the other flies which we have named elsewhere may be more suitable. Among them the sand fly, the grannam or green-tail, the hare's flax, the spider fly, the blue dun of different shades, and the March brown, will furnish an ample variety. The last will be found a first-rate fly in windy weather from the middle of March till the middle of April. The size of the hook on which it should be dressed is No. 4., and it should be fished with as the stretcher, with a dark blue dun, on a