Salmonia: Or, Days of Fly Fishing. In a Series of Conversations. With Some Account of the Habits of Fishes Belonging to the Genus Salmo

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J. Murray, 1828 - 273 pages

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Page 132 - 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 132 - 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 133 - No such thing. The storm is their element; and the little petrel enjoys the heaviest gale, because, living on the smaller sea insects, he is sure to find his food in the spray of a heavy wave, and you may see him flitting above the edge of the highest surge. I believe that the reason of this migration of...
Page 78 - A day with not too bright a beam, A warm, but not a scorching sun, A southern gale to curl the stream, And (Master) half our work is done.
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 101 - They are good, but I have tasted better. HAL.— Where? ORN — On the Continent ; where the common snipe, that rests during its migration from the north to the south in the marshes of Italy and Carniola, and the double or solitary snipe, become so fat as to resemble that bird which was formerly fattened in Lincolnshire, the ruff; and they have, I think, a better flavour, from being fed on their natural food. HAL — At what time have you eaten them ? ORN. — I have eaten them both in spring and...
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 173 - ... of the city of Norwich; and they made their way to the water above, though the boards were smooth planed, and five or six feet perpendicular. He says, when they first rose out of the water upon the dry board, they rested a little — which seemed to be till their...

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