152 £T HOOK AND BT CROOK. 



To dress the body : Cut off about 2 inches of the 

 tubing, thread it on the gut down to the hook, whip 

 it securely to the hook over the joint of the tail- 

 feathers, and varnish, leaving the long end of silk 

 for future use. Next insert the nozzle of a pair of 

 small bellows into the open end of the india-rubber 

 tube, stretch the tube slightly, and inject sufficient 

 air to swell it ; then whip securely at shoulder with 

 waxed silk (leaving space at head of hook for 

 shoulder-hackle and wings), and varnish. Next 

 take the end of silk left hanging at the tail, and with 

 it make three or four half-hitches at equal distances 

 along the body, keeping the silk connecting the 

 hitches along the back of the fly. This will fairly 

 imitate the sections in the natural fly. "With the 

 end of the silk secure the 

 Shoulder-hackle, of blue Andalusian cock's hackle, 



whipped on in the ordinary way. 

 Wings. — Two unbarred feathers of the Canadian Wood- 

 Duck, whipped on back to back ; then varnish. 

 This completes the pattern. 



The wings must not be cut or trimmed, but 



only stripped of down. 



Wood-Duck feathers are just about the right tint for 



the wings, and the matter of cost is the only excuse for 



the use of dyed feathers as substitutes, and we prefer 



feathers to any substance yet employed for this purpose. 



Dyed Mallard feathers are always too yellow or too 



green, and the Egyptian Goose feather is too stiff in the 



