200 FLY-MAKING. 



Mohair and camlets are the finest selection of 

 goat's hair (the former being carded and the latter 

 combed), and work beautifully. The most elegant 

 flies are those with silk bodies, but they are rarely 

 so effective as those of mohair. Many of the wild 

 animals of our woods furnish a fine fur, such as the 

 grey, red, and black squirrels, martin, mink, rabbit, 

 and others. 



A golden pheasant is indispensable for salmon-flies, 

 and a spoiled skin can be obtained from the taxider- 

 mists at from two to five dollars, according to their 

 scarcity. Hackles for salmon-flies should be large 

 and from matured cocks, those for dyeing delicate 

 colors pure white ; while for trout-flies they should 

 be small, either from hens or from cocks not over 

 two years old, and taken from the upper part of the 

 head. They must taper well to the point and not 

 have a stiff stem, and should have the fibre about 

 the length of the hook shank. For wing-flies they 

 must be smaller than for hackle-flies and palmers, 

 and the superfluous fibres are to be stripped off be- 

 fore the feather is tied on. Small neck feathers of 

 almost any bird will make a hackle sufiiciently large 

 for the midge flies. The natural colors afford 

 abundant variety for trout-flies, but for salmon the 

 gayest must be dyed. The necessary colors are red, 

 claret, blue, orange, purple, and yellow; and by suit- 

 ing the dye to the natural color, so that the latter 

 shall shine through, a fine effect is often produced. 

 Considerable practice and experience will be neces- 

 sary in selecting hackles to distinguish the weak 



