It seemed to glide slowly upwards, and scarcely making a ripple, just showed the point of its nose above the water as it quietly sucked in some tiny insect. It then gradually dropped down until it was perhaps a foot below the surface, and slowly swimming to the right, again almost imperceptibly rose and took another fly; then to the left, taking a third; then again it leisurely sank to a short distance. Four or five other trout were to be seen following precisely the same tactics; and the water being as clear as possible, the day perfectly calm, and the light of the dead-grey, hazy type in which every object in the water for many yards seems distinctly visible, every movement could be discerned, and the outline, and even, marking of every fish plainly distinguished. This day way so pre-eminently a typical one for smutting fish, in other words, fish feeding on those microscopic black midges usually called the fisherman's curse or smut.