Salmonia: Or, Days of Fly Fishing, in a Series of Conversations, with Some Account of the Habits of Fishing Belonging to the Genus Salmo

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Murray, 1828 - Fishing - 273 pages
Fictitious conversations about fishing and salmon.

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Page 154 - Can you explain this omen ? Phys. A rainbow can only occur when the clouds containing or depositing the rain are opposite to the sun, — and in the evening the rainbow is in the east, and in the morning in the west ; and as our heavy rains, in this climate, are usually brought by the westerly wind, a rainbow in the west indicates that the bad weather is on the road, by the wind, to us ; whereas the rainbow in the east proves that the rain in these clouds is passing from us.
Page 79 - The ephemerae are saved by his means from a slow and lingering death in the evening, and killed in a moment, when they have known nothing of life but pleasure. He is the constant destroyer of insects, the friend of man ; and, with the stork and the ibis, may be regarded as a sacred bird. His instinct, which gives him his appointed seasons, and which teaches him always when and where to move, may be regarded as flowing from a Divine Source ; and he belongs to the oracles of nature, which speak the...
Page 154 - I have generally observed a coppery or yellow sunset to foretel rain; but, as an indication of wet weather approaching, nothing is more certain than a halo round the moon, which is produced by the precipitated water ; and the larger the circle, the nearer the clouds, and consequently the more ready to fall. HAL. — I have often observed that the old proverb is correct — A rainbow in the morning is the shepherd's warning : A rainbow at night is the shepherd's delight.
Page 78 - The swallow is one of my favourite birds, and a rival of the nightingale ; for he cheers my sense of seeing as much as the other does my sense of hearing. He is the glad prophet of the year — the harbinger of the best season : he lives a life of enjoyment amongst the loveliest forms of nature : winter is unknown to him ; and he leaves the green meadows of England in autumn, for...
Page 86 - Two parent eagles were teaching their offspring — two young birds, the manoeuvres of flight. They began by rising from the top of a mountain in the eye of the sun, (it was about mid-day, and bright for this climate.) They at first made small circles, and the young birds imitated them ; they paused on their wings, waiting till they had made their first flight, and then took a second and larger gyration, — always rising towards the sun, and enlarging their circle of flight so as to make a gradually...
Page 153 - I have no doubt of it, for the red has a tint of purple. Hal. — Do you know why this tint portends fine weather ? Phys.
Page 8 - ... the fisher for salmon and trout with the fly, employs not only machinery to assist his physical powers, but applies sagacity to conquer difficulties ; and the pleasure derived from ingenious resources and devices, as well as from active pursuit, belongs to this amusement. Then as to its philosophical tendency, it is a pursuit of moral discipline, requiring patience, forbearance, and command of temper.
Page 49 - I have him ! HAL. — Take care. He has turned you, and you have suffered him to run out your line, and he is gone into the weeds under the willow : let him fall down stream. POIET. — I cannot get him out. HAL. — Then wind up. I fear he is lost, yet we will try to recover him by taking the boat up. The line is loose ; he has left the link entangled in the weeds, and carried your fly with him. He must have been a large fish, or he could not have disentangled himself from so strong a gut. Try again,...
Page 194 - Trans., part 14, p. 70,) that the little eels, according to his observation, are produced within reach of the tide, and climb round falls to reach fresh water from the sea. I have sometimes seen them, in spring, swimming in immense shoals in the Atlantic, in Mount Bay, making their way to the mouths of small brooks and rivers. When the cold water from the autumnal floods begins...
Page 142 - ... than the other, for giving the point and polishing the hook, and he begins by making the barb, taking care not to cut too deep, and filing on a piece of hard wood, such as box-wood, with a dent to receive the bar made by the edge of the file. The barb being made, the shank is thinned and flattened, and the polishing file applied to it, and by a turn of the wrist round a circular pincers, the necessary degree of curvature is given to it. The hook is then cut from the bar, heated...

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