76 DIVIDING THE WINGS. 



times tightly close over their base. They will 

 now lie nearly as represented. To make them do 

 so completely, you divide the fibres exactly in the 

 middle with your dubbing- needle, and through 

 the division you pass the silk ; and then you wind 

 it round the bottom of the division farthest from 

 you, or that on the right side of the fly, and you 

 bring back the silk, passing it again through the 

 divided wings, and bringing it round and under 

 the bottom of the division which is next to you. 

 You now whip the silk behind the wings, and 

 form the head part of the fly ; fasten with a 

 couple of slip-knots newly waxed, and clip off 

 the depending silk ; touch the knots with a little 

 varnish, which will render them thoroughly safe. 

 Your fly, consisting of tail, body, and wings, is 

 now finished. If your wings are too long, pinch 

 off with your finger-nails the unnecessary portion 

 of the tips of the fibres ; pick out your dubbing 

 with your dubbing-needle, and make your body 

 taper by taking away parts of the dubbing wher- 

 ever you see it superfluous. The fly here repre- 

 sented has three visible defects. It has three 

 tails, one of which should have been clipped off; 

 the head is too thick and too long, which might 

 have been prevented by fewer laps of the silk 

 between the wings and the end of the shank ; 

 and the wings should be more pointed and 

 equally divided. I have purposely left the defects 



