MATERIALS FOB FLY-MAKING. 101 



upper part, immediately behind the poll. Hen's 

 hackles are preferable for wing-flies, and those of 

 the cock for hackle-flies, such as the palmers. 

 No part of the angler's treasures demands greater 

 care in selection than his hackles, which have 

 most to do with the setting-off of a fly; for, how- 

 ever correct and excellent may be all the other 

 materials of which it is composed, a bad hackle 

 will assuredly spoil the whole, either by destroy- 

 ing its harmony or its neatness, or both. Colour 

 is of first importance, after which rank shape 

 and fineness of fibre. These last are mainly 

 affected by the age of the bird at the time 

 its hackles are plucked. Cocks produce the best 

 hackles when between ten and twenty months 

 old, when the shape of the hackles is regular, and 

 their texture best suited for the fly-maker's use. 

 It is rare to meet with a perfectly shaped hackle, 

 and at the same time good in every other respect. 

 The common faults are, a stiffness and coarseness 

 of the stem and of the plume fibres invariably 

 the case with the hackles of an old cock and a 

 shape broader towards the point than at the quill 

 end. To make a good fly with such a hackle is 

 next to impossibility. It is important that the 

 colour be as nearly as possible the same on both 

 sides, not greatly lighter on the under part (or 



H 3 



