SPEY FLIES 27 



rather wicked. They are out of the ordinary 

 in every respect. The bodies are short, and 

 have no adornments in the shape of tag, tail, 

 or butt ; and are usually composed of crewels 

 or Berlin wools of various and varying colours, 

 put on as sparingly as possible. The ribbing 

 tinsel is individually broad and collectively 

 plentiful, and, as often as not, besides thread 

 and twist, gold and silver tinsel are used on 

 one and the same body. The hackles are long 

 and very mobile. Both grey and black Heron 

 hackles are used, but the hackle of a typical 

 Spey fly is obtained from the lateral tail 

 feathers of a certain breed of domestic fowl, 

 known as the " Spey-cock." These are not 

 easy to procure. The method of putting them 

 on is contrary to the general rule, as they are 

 tied in base first instead of tip first i.e., the 

 longest fibres are at the tail end of the fly 

 and they are sometimes wound round the 

 body in the reverse way to the tinsel, a piece 

 of twist or fine oval tinsel being wound on 

 last over the hackle, to prevent it from getting 

 torn by the fishes' teeth. As a matter of fact, 

 the direction in which the hackle is wound 

 will depend upon which side of it is stripped, 



