PLY- MAKING. 427 



your friends who keep fowls, or in any barnyard, and with 

 the hackles from the birds above mentioned, are all that are 

 required for Trout-flies, 



Hackles for Salmon-flies are nearly all of them dyed, and 

 are generally imported to one's order. If the reader wishes 

 to try his hand at dyeing them for himself, as I have said 

 of dubbing, he can find receipts for the different colors in the 

 preceding chapter. 



Wings. — The most suitable feathers of the birds common 

 to our country, for Trout-flies, are the tail and secondary 

 wing feathers (those next the pinions) of the wild and tame 

 pigeons, the gull, blue heron, prairie-fowl, spruce-grouse, snipe, 

 woodcock, partridge, and domestic hen, and from the wing- 

 coverts of the mallard and wood-duck. These, with a few 

 feathers of the red ibis and flamingo, are all that are required 

 for Tront-flies. The last two are foreign birds, and the 

 feathers are seldom used except for the Sea-Trout of the 

 British provinces, or lake-flies. For the wings of Salmon- 

 flies, the best feathers of native birds are the wing-coverts of 

 the teal, mallard, wood-duck, and canvas-back, the tail-feathers 

 of the wild and tame turkey, the domestic hen, and the pea- 

 fowl. It may be as well to say here that the drake mallard 

 on] J furnishes that beautifully mottled brown feather that all 

 fly-makers admire so much ; there are but five or six on each 

 side of the duck ; they are found just at the elbows of the 

 wings ; immediately beneath them are found two or three 

 gray feathers, which are serviceable when a light wing is 

 required for high water. The imported feathers used for 

 Salmon-flies are from the crest, ruff, tail, and wing of the 

 golden pheasant, and tail and wing of the argus pheasant. 

 Blue, yellow, and red macaw are used for feelers (antennae), 

 but from my experience, I am convinced that feelers on a 

 Salmon-fly are about as useless as the long tails made of silk- 



