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Wings of Artificial Flies : The best wings 

 for artificial flies are to be made of the longest 

 fibres or plumelets, stripped from the stem 

 or shaft of the wing of the birds which we are 

 about to name. They are to be stripped from 

 that side of the feather, which, in its natural 

 state, lies next to the body of the bird : from 

 the wings of the starling, field-fare, black-bird, 

 red-wing, lark, hen pheasant, woodcock, land- 

 rail, grouse, partridge, dotterel, snipe, golden - 

 plover, and from feathers of different shades, 

 plucked from the body, under the wing, of a 

 mallard or common wild-drake. 



Hackles or Feathers, used to imitate the Legs* 

 of Flies : The scarcest and best hackles are 

 duns of all shades, particularly those which 

 possess the clearest different shades of blue ; 

 furnace hackles, which are of a red colour, with 

 a black streak along the stem up the middle of 

 the feather; red hackles, light and dark 

 ginger, black and grizzled hackles. Those 

 hackles are to be got in the greatest state of 

 perfection, from off the upper part of the necks 

 of cocks. They should be plucked from those 

 parts where they grow from half an inch to two 

 inches long. When dun hackles cannot be 

 procured from cocks, you must use those 

 plucked from dun hens, which, though they 

 * And sometimes the wings. 



