FISHING TACKLE AND HOW TO MAKP: IT. 479 



quill-like, but uulike (juill it softens right down when wet, 

 becoming more pliant than feather, and yet retaining — 

 in fact increasing — its toughness. Both the body and wing 

 of this iiy are of this material; the legs are of hair, and I 

 need scarcely say it is almost indestructible. No wonder the 

 tackle-makers do not care to make these flies — and it is a 

 fact that they are slow to take them up. 



P.— Yellow May Fly. — This beautiful and favorite fly is 

 found very plentifully on northern streams, during summer 

 and the "counterfeit presentment" on plate 2 is an exact imi- 

 tation. The wings are stained Tarpon membrane, the legs are 

 horse-hair, and the body is of horse-hair wound round with 

 horse-hair. The tail consists of two fibers of the mallard 

 breast-feather. I leave it to the unprejudiced reader to say 

 if a nearer imitation of an actual insect is possible. 



Q and R are two forms of the favorite "brown hackle." Q 

 is the palmer hackle and R the brown hackle. 



S. — Grasshopper-Fly. — ^Why this is so called I do not 

 know. Orvis & Co. (tackle-makers), figure it in their 

 elaborate catalogue, "Fishing With the Fly," but it certainly 

 resembles no grasshopper of this sublunary sphere. All the 

 same, it is a good Trout-fly, and with it I have taken some 

 big fish. It is thus dressed: Tag, silver tinsel and green silk; 

 tail, yellow swan and wood-duck (the black-and-white-tipped 

 feather); body, brown silk; hackle, cardinal; wing jungle- 

 cock feather, with over-wing of red ibis and yellow swan 

 (dyed) ; head, peacock herl. 



T. — ^Adjustable Bass or Lake Trout Fly. — There is 

 a peculiarity about this fly which demands close attention. 

 It is made in two sections, on a system new to fly-makers. 

 The body and tail are formed on the hook, and a thin tube 

 of brass, or even quill, is inserted, after the fashion of the 

 female ferrule of a rod. The hackle and wings are tied 

 securely on a pin, which, when inserted into the aforesaid 



