156 MODERN PRACTICAL ANGLER. 
from a practical fly-tier will be worth volumes of pre- 
cept. It is, however, an art requiring much nicety and 
delicacy of manipulation, and not to be acquired in any 
degree of perfection without practice and a certain 
natural aptitude. 
As with Trout-flies so with Salmon-flies, zone should 
ever be put into a fly-book or be otherwise compressed. 
The elasticity of the hackle fibre is impaired by pressure, 
and all the fresh “crispness” of the fly islost. If as soon 
as made flies are put into a box with others, they will 
bear any amount of tossing or tangling without injury, 
and a round tin box, equal in bulk to an ordinary fly-book, 
will contain quite as many flies and collars as any fly- 
fisher need wish to take with him to the river side. 
I have already referred to this more than once, but it 
is in my opinion a point of such great importance that 
too much stress can hardly be laid upon it. This will 
be better understood when it is recollected that the 
whole art of fly-fishing as we practise it, is based on the 
principle of simulating life, rather than death; and that 
between a fly new and crisp, and one which has been 
long flattened in a fly-book, there is almost as much dif- 
ference when they are in the water as between a living 
and a dead insect. 
The extra, or “head hackle,’ should be about the same 
length in the fibre as the body of the fly from head to 
butt. As, however, the size of hackles is limited, in 
very large flies it is impossible to carry out this pro- 
