FISHING TACKLE AND HOW TO MAKE IT. 46 I 



feathers are boiled in a mordant of alum and water, and then 

 in an infusion of fustic, sumac, and a small portion of cop- 

 peras. 



Some writers prefer alum as a mordant in all cases, and I 

 am not sure it is not the very best one can employ. The 

 proportions should be one oz. alum to one quart boiling water 

 and the feathers should remain in this solution quite a long 

 time say twelve hours, if delay is of no consequence. The 

 very killing colors of the smaller flies are often exceedingly 

 difficult to arrive at, and the following recipes from Halford's 

 fine work on the "Floating flies" used on the chalk streams 

 of England, may be found useful. I have tried them and 

 they are very satisfactory. 



Green Olive: Tea-cup ebony chips in a quart of water, to 

 which is added a piece of chrome potash about the size of a 

 small pea. Boil down to a pint; fill up and boil down to a 

 pint again. Pour off, and add three drops of muriate of tin, 

 then immerse the feathers and dry as usual. 



Medium Olive: Boil for two or three hours two good 

 handfuls of the outside brown leaves of onions in distilled or 

 fresh-caught rain-water, to which is added sufficient good vin- 

 egar to make it perceptibly acid. The addition of a piece of 

 copperas will darken the dye. 



Brown Olive: Add to the above a small quantity of black 

 tea and a small piece of copperas the more of the latter that* 

 is used the browner will be the solution. 



There are several varieties of the "May flies," "Canada 

 soldiers," etc., all comprised under the order Neuroptera 

 genus Ephemera and all have wings shaded more or less with 

 a greenish tinge. The best stain I know of to imitate the 

 natural tint is as follows: 



Natural Tint: One quart soft water; one-half tea-cup ebony 

 chips; chrome potash, size cf pea. After dyeing the feathers 

 in this bath, rinse thoroughly and immerse momentarily 

 in very light-green Diamond-dye solution, to which a little 



