74 FLY-DRESSING: THE BODY. 



Here are hook and gut with a body on without 

 wing and tail. That body 

 is made of what is called 

 dubbing; and dubbing is 

 made of fur, hair, mohair, 

 silk, and a few other sub- 

 stances. You spin a little of either (the quantity 

 to be determined by the size of the hook you use, 

 the size of the fly determining the size of the 

 hook) on your silk, by twirling both dubbing and 

 silk between the fore finger and thumb of your 

 right hand, and you wind the whole on your 

 hook, beginning at the tail, and working up to 

 the setting on of the wings. The dubbing must 

 be wound more sparingly on the silk near the 

 tail, and increase upwards, being most plentiful 

 close under the wings. You will perceive that 

 you begin winding the hook upon the dubbing 

 after you have tied on the tail, just where you see 

 the silk hanging from the hook in Fig. 3, and 

 you cease winding on when you come to the wings. 

 It may be here necessary to warn you that in 

 some instances you place the tail and dubbing on 

 first, before you whip on the wing-fibres. These 

 instances are, when you are dressing very small 

 flies with perfectly upright wings. Then you 

 place on the wings last, with the butts of the 

 fibres pointing towards the end of the shank, and 

 the top ends towards the bend of the hook. In 



