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the end of the silk between your teeth, rub the 

 silk from the hook towards your mouth with 

 your wax, in order to clear away the dubbing 

 that is not wanted; and whipping your silk 

 twice round the shank, fasten it at the bend 

 with two loop-knots. Now examine the shape 

 of your fly, and if you find that the dubbing lies 

 clumsily and unproportionably round the hook, 

 pick it out with the point of a needle when 

 enough of it does not show, or clip it off with 

 your scissors when you find it too long or too 

 thick. 



RULE 5. How to make a Grouse or a 

 Wren's Hackle : Lap your hook and gut toge- 

 ther in the usual way. Strip off the soft fibres 

 from the quill-end of such feather as you are 

 going to use, and, instead of placing that end to 

 be first whipped on to the shank of the hook, as 

 you did in dressing the simple hackle, you must 

 fasten on to the shank the tip-end of the fea- 

 ther, having first made a separation in the 

 fibres of the feather, for your silk to pass without 

 obstruction through. This separation is made 

 by forcing, from opposite points of each side of 

 the stem, the fibres backwards towards the 

 root of the feather. Whip your silk twice 

 round the point of the feather, at the place 

 where the fibres are separated, and then cut off 



