KVOLTTION OF THK TKOUT FLY. 165 



particularly short ones. All these Halford 

 allows for : he uses a thin quill from a chaffinch 

 tail for body, and for wings the palest starling- 

 obtainable. And he notes, too, the short wings 

 of the male. These three characteristics are 

 the fly : and every one of these three Cotton 

 observed and copied. 



After this it is hardly necessary to trace 'the 

 fly down. The commonest dressing, however, 

 not I think the best, is black ostrich herl body, 

 and either some sort of clear wing, or more 

 usually wingless, with a dark or black hackle. 

 So Bowlker dressed it : and so did Francis and 

 many others. Nearly every writer agrees that 

 it is a difficult fly to copy. It is a most unsatis- 

 factory fly to fish with. 



THE RED SEDGE. 



Unlike all that have gone before, I do not 

 think the Sedges were differentiated until quite 

 late in history. Which is odd, for some of 

 them, the Red Sedge for instance, are most 

 noticeable. Theakston at the middle of the 

 last century gives a good account of it, though 

 in his tiresome phraseology he calls it the Red 

 Dun. He winged it with landrail, brown owl, 

 or red dun hen ; body, copper silk ; and hackle, 

 red dun hen. Ronalds disregards it, though 

 he gives a picture of the Cinnamon Sedge. 

 Halford rejected it, and gives no dressing. On 

 the other hand Francis thought well of it, and 

 dressed it with a double wing, starling under 



