FLY-MAKING. 211 



fibres of hackle, or golden pheasant breast and back, 

 are usually employed for whisks ; and two strands of 

 floss carefully waxed with a small edge of the wax, 

 will make a tying silk as strong and large as should 

 be used for a small fly. If well waxed, the finer the 

 silk the firmer it holds; if not waxed no silk what- 

 ever will hold. 



Another way of tying a trout-fly, by which more 

 life is supposed to be given to it, is by commencing 

 to fasten the gut at the bend and finishing at the 

 head, holding the hook reversed ; then change the 

 hook to its proper position, and reversing the thread, 

 lay on the wings, which are composed of two strips 

 of feather folded, so that they shall point up along 

 the gut ; secure them firmly and cut off the butts 

 close, divide them with the point of the picker and 

 pass the thread through the opening each way several 

 times, and if necessary above them both, but not on 

 the root of the wings, till they stand up, then push- 

 ing them into their original position tie in below 

 them by the larger end a hackle and a piece of 

 round tinsel, and spinning a little dubbing on the 

 silk, wind it toward the bend ; hold the thread with 

 the catch, and with the pliers wind the tinsel and 

 afterwards the hackle, and fasten both at the bend ; 

 and finish off with two half-hitches. The silk com- 

 posing the material in which the round tinsel is 

 wound may be left for a tail, the coating being 

 pulled off; or the tip of the hackle may be so left, 

 or proper whisks may be introduced. The wings 

 being drawn into their appropriate place will remain 



