53^ AMERICAN GAME FISHES. 



thread at intervals up the rod to increase its strength and 

 the tying on of rings or guides is a pleasant task, though 

 requiring patience. The chief thing about it is the knowl- 

 edge of how to tie off, or in other words, form the invisible 

 knot. If the learner will carefully look over the diagram 

 (fig. 30) he will be able to puzzle this task out without diffi- 

 culty. Let him take a piece of string and a stick and hold 

 it in the left hand with the thumb uppermost. Now pass one 

 end of the string under it with that end pointing to the right. 

 Now bring the twine down under, up, and over toward him 

 and over the end of the twine placing the thumb firmly on 

 it. Repeat this two or three times. Now to fasten off with 

 the invisible knot. Still holding the thumb at A, insert the 

 end of the thread in a quill and retain it there by means of a 

 plug (B). Now pass the thread in a large loop to the right, 

 and drop the quill over in coils as shown, three or four times; 

 finally bring it up to C as shown in the dotted line. Now 

 wind D side by side with A and over C, not too tightly, and as 

 you turn the stick round to do so you will find all the coils 

 (E) unwind, being transferred as a continuation of A. C will 

 be laid underneath them, and all you have to do is to pull 

 gently but firmly on C, and the knot is made. 



The whipping should be at intervals of a few inches all 

 down the rod, and may be of any-colored silk, waxed with 

 either of the transparent waxes, or even with the cement 

 given for ferrules. 



Necessarily in the foregoing a great deal has been left to 

 the reader's ingenuity. Mechanical operations are the very 

 hardest of all to describe, but as each process is explained in 

 exact accordance with my own first efforts, I am induced to 

 think this chapter will be sufficiently comprehensive and 

 detailed to be useful. I once visited Alcock's factory, at 

 Redditch, where five hundred people are regularly at work 

 turning out tackle, and saw the chief Salmon-fly tier turning 

 out most beautifully finished "Jock Scots'" at a rate that 



