130 PALMERS FOR THE FISHING SEASON. 



The Large Eed Palmer was the " hestfiij that 

 could he used " for Trout there ever after. 



Show plenty of gold at the tail ; and let your 

 feather be a good black near the head, and shade 

 off to a rich game red. A fly of this kind falls 

 more lightly, and shows more life in the water, 

 than other large flies. The elastic fibres of the 

 hackle open and close as it is drawn across the 

 stream, and it displays its colours to the best 

 advantage. A hackle fl}-^ is never on its back. 

 The Black and Eed, or Large Eed, Palmer, will 

 ever be a standard Trout fly. For a Dropper, 

 a smaller fly of similar materials, on a single 

 hook (No. 7), will be found a good accompani- 

 ment. That this is taken for a beetle of some 

 kind by the Trout is highly probable. 



The caterpillar of the Garden Tiger Moth is 

 common on nettles during the autumn and spring ; 

 that of the Drinker Moth is abundant in spring- 

 on rank grass. Both rejoice in the familiar 

 name of Woolly-hears in some places. Before 

 these spin their cocoons, which the}' do in May 

 and June, they wander from their food often to 

 a sfreaf distance : and from this circumstance 

 are called Palmers. It is probably during these 

 pilgrimages mostly that they fall a pre}^ to the 

 fish throuoh various mischances. 



