BEETLES. 75 



material with which I am well pleased, more 

 especially as each is kept separate, and available 

 without trouble. 



Should the good-natured fishing public ask 

 for a second edition, I may perhaps give more 

 details on this subject ; for it is somewhat of 

 a pet, though not exactly the child of our old 

 age; — rather the mistress of our youth, and 

 the friend of our riper years, combining, as 

 Keats most correctly sings, 



" The bread of friendship, and the wine of love ; " 



exhilaration and sustenance, — the excitement 

 of sport, and its fruits. 



The manufacture of the Beetle is a more 

 troublesome operation than that of fly-making. 



Tie securely, on the back of a hook, using 

 strong well-waxed silk, a bit of thin whale- 

 bone, cut as shown in Plate IV. fig. 3., when 

 it will assume the appearance of fig. 4. Cut 

 the fibres from a medium sized black hackle, 

 almost, but not quite, close to the shaft of the 

 feather ; thus leaving it a little rough. Divide 

 it into two equal lengths. Place them on 



