CHAPTER III. 



ON MATERIALS. 



I HAVE now arrived at the strictly practical 

 portion of the present series of articles, and am 

 not altogether sorry. Theory has its fascinations 

 for me, likewise its dangers, as have out- of -depth 

 waters for a youngster who has imperfectly learnt 

 to swim, but when I am content with practice I 

 have, at any rate, my fords and stepping-stones, 

 of which I have myself made use for years, and 

 over which I have good hopes of being able to 

 pilot others. It gives me confidence to feel that 

 for the rest of my journey I shall always or nearly 

 always have at least one foot on the ground. 



The subject of the present article is one of 

 peculiarly wide scope. There is scarcely a feather 

 or fur that could be said to be useless for fly 

 making, and furs and feathers would by no means 

 complete the list of what we should desire for the 

 purpose. 



The first material we shall require is tying 

 silk, and PearsalFs " gossamer " tying silk, which 

 is now widely known and used, is the best with 

 which I am acquainted. It is sold in a very con- 

 venient form, viz., on box- wood reels of small 

 height and relatively large diameter. The silk 

 itself is very fine, smooth, hard, and strong, in 

 fact, just as it ought to be. 



Next in order come the materials for wings, 

 and here I will make an attempt to roughly 

 classify the most useful as to their colour. 



Many flies notably spinners and small gnats 



