108 



way towards the bend. Take your silk between 

 the fore-finger and thumb of your right-hand, 

 and whip it tightly round the shank and gut 

 three times in the direction of the bend. Rest 

 your silk as before between the middle and 

 third fingers of your left-hand. You have now 

 finished the first operation, namely, that of 

 attaching the hook and gut together; and in 

 dressing every sort of fly, bear in mind, that it 

 is to be performed in a similar way. Now take 

 your hackle-feather, and having stripped it of 

 the downy fibres, on each side the stem down 

 to its root, place it against the shank of the 

 hook, on the side nearest your body, with its 

 root pointing towards the bend of the hook ; 

 then, and in the same direction, whip the silk 

 sharply three times round the hook, gut, and 

 root-end of the feather, and cut off with a fine- , 

 pointed small scissors, any of the root that "\. 

 remains. Having done so, take the feather by ^ 

 its point between the thumb and fore-finger of 

 the right-hand, and wind it in close laps five or 

 six times the number of laps to be propor- 

 tioned to the size of the hook and fly down 

 the shank towards the bend; then make two 

 laps of the silk over the point of the feather ; 

 cut away with your scissors what remains un- 

 covered by the silk of the point of the feather ; 

 and, lastly, waxing your silk afresh, fasten it 



