204 FISHES AND FISHING. 



one made of live feathers, if you press your hand down 

 into it, rises again, and shows no mark of the inden 

 tation ; whereas one made of dead feathers, leaves the 

 full mark of the indentation; and if the price of the 

 latter be forty francs, the price of the former would 

 be eighty or a hundred francs. I am not the apologist 

 of the persons who obtain these feathers for live beds, 

 or of the methods they use, which I am told are cruel ; 

 not so, however, is the method of obtaining live 

 hackles, they are carefully plucked out, one at a time, 

 and are no more than pulling a hair at a time out of 

 a man's or woman's head ; they are in perfection the 

 latter end of September, or all the month of October. 

 The hackles from some cocks are most beautiful, light 

 or dark duns, speckled with gold-coloured spots; 

 some of these spots are so minute as to be seen only 

 with a magnifying glass; these from the necks of 

 hens, which make up cloak fashion as it is called, are 

 also highly prized. Live' hackles of all descriptions 

 Mr. H. had in great numbers, and I believe he crossed 

 the breed of fowls, to obtain many of them ; and on 

 any angling excursion he made into the country, he 

 invariably purchased, if to be sold, even at a high 

 price, any curious bird which would yield feathers of 

 that description. He was very liberal in his gifts of 

 feathers to me, many of which I still have ; and after 

 his death, which I shall presently mention, his son 



