and in the caterpillars of the fox and oak-egger moths: another
proof that the most attractive flies are imitations of the real
insects. On the other hand, there are said to be times when midges,
and nothing else, will rise fish on some chalk streams. The delicate
black hackle which Mr. Stewart praises so highly (and which should
always be tied on a square sneck-bend hook) will kill in June and
July; and on the Itchen, at Winchester, hardly any flies but small
ones are used after the green drake is off. But there is one sad
objection against these said midges--what becomes of your fish when
hooked on one in a stream full of weeds (as all chalk streams are
after June), save


'One struggle more, and I am free
From pangs which rend my heart in twain'?


Winchester fishers have confessed to me that they lose three good
fish out of every four in such cases; and as it seems pretty clear
that chalk fish approve of no medium between very large flies and
very small ones, I advise the young angler, whose temper is not yet
schooled into perfect resignation, to spare his own feelings by
fishing with a single large fly--say the governor in the forenoon,
the caperer in the evening, regardless of the clearness of the water.
I have seen flies large enough for April, raise fish excellently in
Test and other clear streams in July and August; and, what is more,
drag them up out of the weeds and into the landing-net, where midges
would have lost them in the first scuffle.

So much for our leading chalk flies; all copies of live insects. Of