88 MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 
the three flies which I recommend as fulfilling the 
conditions indicated. They can be made of any size, 
from that used in the smallest and clearest of our Derby- 
shire streams to the largest sized lake-fly : nothing being 
required to be varied but the size of the hook, the 
length of the hackle, and the thickness of the silk with 
which the fly is tied. These flies are both simple in 
construction, and more easily and quickly tied than any 
flies hitherto made public, so far as I am aware. For 
the construction of an ordinary “ March brown,” for 
example, at least two feathers and three silks are 
required : in the brown fly shown in the plate, which 
is quite as good an imitation of the insect in theory, and 
a better one in practice, only a single strand of coloured 
silk, and a single hackle feather is used; and the other 
flies are made in the same way. The principle of their 
construction is as follows :-— 
A strand of common coloured sewing silk (not floss), 
of the required thickness having been waxed in the 
manner presently described, take two or three turns over 
the exd of the hook-shank and gut ; lay the hackle on 
the back of the hook, hollow side upwards, with the 
large end towards the hook-bend ; lap over it with three 
or four turns of the silk ; spin the hackle on over these 
turns (the same way round as the silk), leaving some of the 
hackle over; then fasten the hackle off with the silk, 
continuing to work upwards towards the bend of the 
hook, and lapping over the hackle until the body is 
of sufficient length; then fasten off the silk and cut the 
