THE OAK FLY. 63 



Artificial. Make it on the lightest hook, of 

 No. 12., breaking the shank short ; use a very light 

 blue dun hen's hackle ; the body of a small herl of 

 a peacock's tail feather, the fibres of which should 

 be very short and thinly scattered. Where the fish 

 are small, and the river free from any foul bottom, 

 tie your fly on a fine glass-coloured round hair, the 

 other part of the footline being single hair, which 

 falls excessively light, and will lie on the water ; 

 but, without much practice and care, it will be 

 snapped off in throwing. 



THE OAK FLY, CALLED ALSO THE ASH FLY, WOOD- 

 COCK FLY, CANNON FLY, DOWNHILL FLY, APPLE- 

 TREE FLY, ETC. 



SEASON. May and June. 



Natural. About the size of a flesh fly, but with 

 a slender body ; the head, in colour, -resembles that 

 of a house fly ; the chest, back, and body where the 

 legs spring are of a bluish lead colour. The tail 

 consists of about six rings ; the back is of an orange 

 yellow ; the belly rather whiter. It has four or five 

 rows of black spots on the sides ; the last two 

 rings of the tail taper abruptly, and are entirely 

 black ; the six legs are yellow, spotted with black ; 

 its two wings of a brownish yellow, veined with 

 black : they lie on the back, like those of the large 

 flesh fly. You will find them principally in May 

 and the beginning of June, and even now and then 



