6. Then a white gnat, with a pale wing, and a black head. 7. There is also, this month, a fly called the peacock-fly; the body made of a whirl of a peacock's feather, with a red head; and wings, of a mallard's feather.

8. We have then another very killing fly, known by the name of the dun-cut;* the dubbing of which is a bear's dun, with a little blue and yellow mixed with it; a large dun wing, and two horns at the head, made of the hairs of a squirrel's tail.

9. The next is the cow-lady, a little fly;† the body, of a peacock's feather; the wing, of a red feather, or strips of the red hackle of a cock.

10. We have then the cow-dung fly; the dubbing, light brown and yellow mixed; the wing, the dark gray feather of a mallard. And note that, besides these above mentioned, all the same hackles and flies, the hackles only brighter, and the flies smaller, that are taken in April, will also be taken this month, as also all browns and duns; and now I come to my stone-fly and green-drake, which are the matadores for Trout and Grayling, and, in their season, kill more fish in our Derbyshire rivers, than all the rest, past and to come, in the whole year besides.

But first, I am to tell you, that we have four several flieswhich contend for the title of the May-fly, namely, the greendrake, the stone-fly, the black-fly, and the little yellow May-fly.

And all these have their champions and advocates to dispute and plead their priority; though I do not understand why the two last named should the first two having so manifestly the advantage, both in their beauty, and the wonderful execution they do in their season.

11. Of these, the green-drake comes in about the twentieth of this month, or betwixt that and the latter end, (for they are sometimes sooner and sometimes later, according to the quality of the year,) but never well taken till towards the end of this month and the beginning of June. The stone-fly comes much sooner, so early as the middle of April, but is never well taken till towards the middle of May, and continues to kill much longer than the green-drake stays with us, so long as to the end almost of June; and, indeed, so long as there are any of them to be seen upon the water; and sometimes, in an artificial fly, and late at night, or before sunrise in the morning, longer.

Now, both these flies, and I believe many others, though I think not all, are certainly and demonstratively bred in the very rivers where they are taken; our cadis or cod-bait, which lie

* Dun-cut. Dub with bear's cub fur, and a little yellow and green crewel; warp with yellow or green: wing, of a land-rail. Towards the evening of a showery day, this is a great killer.

+ Not a fly exactly, though it has wings, but the little roundish, reddish beetle, with black spots, otherwise called a lady-bird, (Coccinella.)-J. R.

under stones at the bottom of the water, most of them turning into those two flies,* and being gathered in the husk, or crust, near the time of their maturity, are very easily known and distinguished, and are of all other the most remarkable, both for their size, as being of all other the biggest, (the shortest of them being a full inch long or more,) and for the execution they do, the Trout and Grayling being much more greedy of them than of any others; and, indeed, the Trout never feeds fat, nor comes into his perfect season, till these flies come in.

Of these the green-drake never discloses from his husk till he be first there grown to full maturity, body, wings, and all; and then he creeps out of his cell, but with his wings so crimped and ruffled, by being pressed together in that narrow room, that they are for some hours totally useless to him; by which means he is compelled either to creep upon the flags, sedges, and blades of grass, (if his first rising from the bottom of the water be near the banks of the river,) till the air and sun stiffen and smooth them; or if his first appearance above water happen to be in the middle, he then lies upon the surface of the water, like a ship at hull, (for his feet are totally useless to him there, and he cannot creep upon the water as the stone-fly can,) until his wings have got stiffness to fly with, if by some Trout or Grayling he be not taken in the interim, (which ten to one he is,) and then his wings stand high, and closed exact upon his back, like the butterfly, and his motion in flying is the same.† His body is in some of a paler, in others, of a darker yellow, (for they are not all exactly of a colour,) ribbed with rows of green, long, slender, and growing sharp towards the tail, at the end of which he has three long small whisks of a very dark colour, almost black, and his tail turns up towards his back like a mallard, from whence, questionless, he has his name of the green-drake. These (as I think I told you before) we commonly dape or dibble with; and having gathered great store of them into a long draw box, with holes in the cover to give them air, (where also they will continue fresh and vigorous a night or more,) we take them out thence by the wings, and bait them thus upon the hook. We first take one, (for we commonly fish with two of them at a time,) and putting the point of the hook into the thickest part of his body, under one of his wings, run it directly through, and out at the other side, leaving him spitted cross upon the hook; and then taking the other, put him on after the same manner,

*This is a mistake. The stone-fly (Phryganea) alone is from the cadis worm. The green-drake (Ephemera) being from a grub that feeds indeed under water, not in an artificial case like the other, but in a hole dug in the bank, or under the shelter of loose weeds.-J. R.

This is correct, a circumstance rare enough, as we have already seen in this work, when either Walton or Cotton venture upon natural history.-J. R.

but with his head the contrary way; in which posture they will live upon the hook, and play with their wings, for a quarter of an hour or more; but you must have a care to keep their wings dry, both from the water, and also that your fingers be not wet when you take them out to bait them, for then your bait is spoiled.

Having now told you how to angle with this fly alive, I am now to tell you next how to make an artificial fly, that will so perfectly resemble him,* as to be taken in a rough windy day, when no flies can lie upon the water, nor are to be found about the banks and sides of the river, to a wonder; and with which you shall certainly kill the best Trout and Grayling in the river.

The artificial green-drake,† then is made upon a large hook, the dubbing camel's hair, bright bear's hair, the soft down that is combed from a hog's bristles, and yellow camlet, well mixed together; the body long, and ribbed about with green silk, or rather yellow, waxed with green wax : the whisks of the tail of the long hairs of sables, or fitchet, and the wings of the whitegray feather of a mallard, dyed yellow, which also is to be dyed thus:

Take the root of a barbary tree, and shave it, and put to it woody viss, with as much alum as a walnut, and boil your feathers in it with rain water, and they will be of a very fine yellow.

I have now done with the green-drake, excepting to tell you, that he is taken at all hours, during his season, whilst there is any day upon the sky; and with a made fly I once took, ten days after he was absolutely gone, in a cloudy day, after a shower, and in a whistling wind, five and thirty very great Trouts and Graylings, betwixt five and eight of the clock in the evening, and had no less than five or six flies, with three good hairs apiece, taken from me, in despite of my heart, besides.

12. I should now come next to the stone-fly, but there is another gentleman in my way, that must of necessity come in between, and that is the gray-drake, which in all shapes and dimensions is perfectly the same with the other, but almost quite of another colour, being of a paler, and more livid yellow, and green, and ribbed with black quite down his body, with black

The resemblance is not much nearer, I should say, than Hamlet's cloud to a camel, or a whale.-J. R.

+ Green drake, or May fly. The body of seal's fur, or yellow mohair, a little fox-cub down, and hog's wool, or light brown from a Turkey carpet, mixed; warp with pale yellow, or red cock's hackle, under the wings; wings, of a mallard's feather, dyed yellow: three wisks in his tail from a sable muff. Taken all day, but chiefly from two to four in the afternoon.

The fly will be taken or not according to the colour of the water, or of the sky, not the season, J. R.

shining wings, and so diaphanous and tender, cobweb-like, that they are of no use for daping; but come in, and are taken after the green-drake, and in an artificial fly kill very well, which fly is thus made:* The dubbing of the down of a hog's bristles and black spaniel's fur mixed, and ribbed down the body with black silk; the whisks, of the hairs of the beard of a black cat; and the wings, of the black gray feather of a mallard.

And now I come to the stone-fly; but I am afraid I have already wearied your patience; which, if I have, I beseech you freely tell me so, and I will defer the remaining instructions for fly angling till some other time.

Viator. No, truly, sir, I can never be weary of hearing you. But if you think fit, because I am afraid I am too troublesome, to refresh yourself with a glass and a pipe, you may afterwards proceed, and I shall be exceedingly pleased to hear you.

Piscator. I thank you, sir, for that motion; for, believe me, I am dry with talking, here, boy! give us here a bottle and a glass; and, sir, my service to you, and to all our friends in the south.

Viator. Your servant, sir; and I'll pledge you as heartily; for the good powdered beef I ate at dinner, or something else, has made me thirsty.

CHAPTER VIII.

FISHING AT THE TOP CONTINUED. FLIES FOR THE END OF MAY, AND FOR THE FOLLOWING MONTHS TILL DECEMBER; CONTAINING, UNDER MAY, INSTRUCTIONS WHEN TO DAPE WITH THE STONE-FLY.

Viator. So, sir, I am now ready for another lesson, so soon as you please to give it me.

Piscator. And I, sir, as ready to give you the best I can. Having told you the time of the stone-fly's coming in, and that he is bred of a cadis in the very river where he is taken,† I am next to tell you that,

13. This same stone-fly has not the patience to continue in his crust, or husk, till his wings be full grown; but as soon as

Gray-drake. The body, of an absolute white ostrich feather; the end of the body towards the tail, of peacock's herl; warping, of an ash colour, with silver twist and black hackle; wing, of a dark gray feather of a mallard. A very killing fly, especially towards the evening, when the fish are glutted with the green-drake.

+Chap. vii. Num. 1.*

It is an old and foolish notion among anglers, that fish will only take the sorts of maggots bred in the rivers where they live. If so, they would never take grasshoppers, crickets, and earth worms, much less artificial flies. —J. R.

ever they begin to put out, that he feels himself strong, (at which time we call him a jack,) squeezes himself out of prison, and crawls to the top of some stone, where, if he can find a chink that will receive him, or can creep betwixt two stones, the one lying hollow upon the other, (which, by the way, we also lay so purposely to find them,) he there lurks till his wings be full grown; and there is your only place to find him, (and from thence doubtless he derives his name;) though, for want of such convenience, he will make shift with the hollow of a bank, or any other place where the wind cannot come to fetch him off. His body is long, and pretty thick, and as broad at the tail almost as in the middle: his colour a very fine brown, ribbed with yellow, and much yellower on the belly than the back: he has two or three whisks also at the tag of his tail, and two little horns upon his head: his wings, when full grown, are double, and flat down his back, of the same colour, but rather darker than his body, and longer than it, though he makes but little use of them; for you shall rarely see him flying, though often swimming and paddling with several feet he has under his belly, upon the water, without stirring a wing. But the drake will mount steeple-height into the air; though he is to be found upon flags and grass too, and indeed every where, high and low, near the river; there being so many of them in their season as, were they not a very inoffensive insect, would look like a plague and these drakes (since I forgot to tell you before, I will tell you here) are taken by the fish to that incredible degree that, upon a calm day, you shall see the still deeps continually all over circles by the fishes rising, who will gorge themselves with those flies till they purge again out of their gills:* and the Trouts are at that time so lusty and strong, that one of eight or ten inches long will then more struggle and tug, and more endanger your tackle, than one twice as big in winter. pardon this digression.

But

This stone-fly, then, we dape or dibble with as with the drake, but with this difference, that whereas the green-drake is common both to stream and still, and to all hours of the day, we seldom dape with this but in the streams, (for in a whistling wind a made-fly, in the deep, is better,) and rarely, but early and late, it not being so proper for the mid time of the day; though a great Grayling will then take it very well in a sharp stream, and, here and there, a Trout, too, but much better towards eight, nine, ten, or eleven, of the clock at night, at which time, also, the best fish rise, and the later the better, provided you can see your fly; and when you cannot, a made

* I have caught a Trout so full of them that, in taking him off the hook, I have pressed out of his throat a lump of them as big as a walnut.