270 FI^IES AND KNOTS. 
It is no small matter to give a list of the requisite fly- 
making materials, but the following are a few of the 
most important : 
Silk of various colors, wax, nippers, scissors, a bench 
vice, picker, spring pliers, varnish, hooks and gut, tinsel 
of gold and silver, twisted and plain ; hackles of all 
colors, feathers of the mallard, teal, woodcock, golden, 
silver and argus pheasants, turkey, macaws, curlew, 
rufi"ed grouse, ibis, blue-jay, black-bird, fresh water rail, 
guinea fowl, common chicken, and any and all other 
birds that may come in the angler's way ; dubbings of 
mohair, pig's hair, wool, seal's fur, rat's, mole's and squir- 
rel's fur ; floss silk of all colors, and peacock's and 
ostrich herl. Dyed feathers had better be purchased of 
the tackle makers, and should include blue, purple, 
orange, yellow, brown, green, crimson and scarlet hackles, 
and yellow wing feathers. 
There is a Limerick hook now made with the shank 
turned over so as to form a loop into which the gut is 
inserted and the trouble of tying the gut is avoided. 
They have come into general use among the Irish and 
Scotch fishermen, and are a great aid to tlie man that 
ties his own flies. The gut in ordinary fly fishing wears 
out just above the hook, a difiiculty that is entirely 
removed by this improvement, and it is by no means so 
ugly or ungainly as might be supposed. This is no new 
discovery, but has been practised with common Ameri- 
ican hooks for a considerable period, and might be 
advantageously used in many kinds of fishing, and ap- 
plied to all hooks. 
Hooks are numbered in the most singular manner, no 
