MAY. 55 



pound to two pounds weight. He was dexterous in whip- 

 ping his flies beneath bushes, and over the haunts of large 

 trout. His favorite fly was the freckled dun, the produce 

 of the stickbait, which he called his " moorcock and spicy 

 silk." But the first generation of the freckled dun had 

 past, or was eclipsed by the green drake, then, in full force ; 

 and the artificial green drake in the sunny calm, was in 

 total eclipse by the living fly ; which would have filled a 

 pannier in an hour. Those who practice flyfishing in all 

 its varieties, find, amidst the changes of weather and waters, 

 suitable times and occasions for either, and neither overrate 

 the one or undervalue the other. 



6 3RD. GREY DRAKE. 35 Size about the same as the green 

 drake, but smarter, and shews her real colors. Wings 

 transparent and sparkling, of an inky tinge, with dark or 

 black veins and crossings, thickening to the shoulders, the 

 tops of which are dark ; and the spots or marks on the 

 joints of the body dark and distinct, of a deep red or black 

 brown ground. Body and shoulders a creamy yellow white, 

 dimly transparent ; some with long whisks and long fore- 

 legs, of a light ale tinge and transparency ; case or pellet 

 eyes which varieties appear in some individuals of most 

 species of the drakes. 



Hackled for wings with a black cock's hackle ; for legs 

 fibres of red brown hair ; body, light cream colored smooth 

 woollen thread, warped with eight or nine open rounds of 

 brown floss silk. 



The grey drake continues the history of the green one ; 

 unencumbered with the green mantle, the grey drake pur- 

 sues her pleasures with ease and vivacity. She shuns the 



(35) This fly is the metamorphosis of the female " Green Drake," it is said by 

 some authorities to be a good evening fly, but I cannot speak very highly of it from 

 my own experience ; the author's dressing is too dark, and would more closely imitate 

 the " Black Drake," to which the male " Green Drake" changes; the best material 

 to employ for the wings is that recommended both by Jackson and Ronalds, viz., the 

 mottled feather from a mallard, stained faintly purple. 



