ANGLING FOR TROUT. 71 



will chafe it, and whip with the silk downwards, 

 almost to the bend of the hook. The colour of the 

 arming silk should be as near that of the baits used as 

 may be, and its size regulated by the thickness of 

 the wire, hair, or gut, to which it is joined. " For 

 whipping on a hook/' says Hawkins, "take the fol- 

 lowing directions ; place it betwixt the fore finger and 

 thumb of your left hand, and with your right give 

 the waxed silk three or four turns round the shank ; 

 then lay the end of the hair on the inside of the shank, 

 and with your right hand whip down ; when you are 

 within about four turns of the bend of the hook, take 

 the shank between the fore-finger and thumb of the 

 left hand, and place the silk close by it, holding them 

 both tight, and leaving the end to hang down ; then 

 draw the other part of the silk into a large loop ; and, 

 with your right hand turning backwards, continue the 

 whipping for four turns, and draw the end of the silk 

 (which has all this while hung down under the root 

 of your left thumb) close and twitch off." 



Artificial flies for Trouting. 



Since the time of Cotton, minute directions are 

 given in most of the angling books how to make 

 artificial flies; but the greater part of these are not 

 very intelligible. An hour's instruction from an artist 

 in this line, would be better than all the printed 

 directions ever published; but that my little work 

 may not be considered altogether wanting on this 

 point, I shall mention what I deem requisite, pre- 

 mising that, like most anglers, I have rarely used any 



