er; the general
appearance of the plumage on the wings and back resembled a dark-
coloured Woodcock; but under the wings the fine blue inner coverts
exactly resembled those of the Snipe. In those days I had no idea
of the value attached to rare birds, nor did I know anything of
the art of preserving birds, or of bird-preservers, and no doubt
some of these gentlemen will pronounce me a great Goth when I tell
them that what I regretted most, when I found that the bird was
plucked, was the loss of the wings, the feathers of which I wanted
to dress artificial flies with. Three days after I had killed
this, I saw another in a ditch adjoining Sir Henry Ibbetson's
park, at Denton, but being in his preserve I had no opportunity of
procuring it. I had never seen one since, and until I had seen the
sixth edition of Bewick's "Birds," I was unable to make out its
name, about which I may still be mistaken. (May 29th, 1834.)

* * * * *

FISH AND OTHER RIVER PHENOMENA.

A writer in the "British Naturalist" says, that "fish don't feed,
and therefore we may conclude they don't discern in sunny
weather." If the author had ever been a May-fly-fisher he would
have known that bright weather and clear water were essentially
necessary to his success.

This fly is one of the best baits I know for large Trout, and is
much used by the anglers in some of the rivers in Yorkshire
(perhaps in other counties also), where two methods of fishing it
are practised. The one is bobbing, which with one sort of bait or
another is universal, and therefore needs no description. However,
it is always practised in bright weather. In the other method
(which I believe is peculiar to the North of England) the May-fly
(stone-fly) is fished with a long line in rapid streams, in the
same way as the artificial fly, except that it is fished up the
stream; that is, the angler throws his line into the stream above
where he stands, and allows it to float down opposite to him, when
he makes another throw; by this means he always keeps his line
slack, and the May-fly floats on the surface, which is essential
to his success. I mention these two methods of angling because
both are practised in bright weather, and therefore prove that
fish both discern and feed in such days. I believe the fact is,
that at such times they frequently see too well for the angler,
and are consequently aware that his artificial flies are not what
they seem to be. Fishes, particularly Par and