FLIES FOR MAY. 93 



fibres). This should be struck from tail to head, 

 and the fibres snipped off nearly up to where 

 the wings are set on, leaving a sufficient quantity 

 for the legs. Hook, No. 2 or 3, long. 



REMARKS. The small woodcock and grouse 

 feathers (which can be used indifferently) make 

 very neat hackle flies ; and the beginner will 

 find a pleasure in making the Oak Fly of various 

 sizes in the following easy manner : BODY, 

 orange floss silk, ribbed with fine black silk, 

 which may be slightly waxed. Then form the 

 head of your fly with your arming silk (brown), 

 and choosing a woodcock or grouse feather, 

 whose fibres are the exact length of the hook, stroke 

 it back, and tie it (upside down) by the tip to 

 the arming of your hook, just clear of the head, 

 and wind the feather round as a hackle, holding 

 it by the quill, and fasten off under the shoulder. 



The fly so made, of Green Drake size, is an 

 excellent Chub fly in the Trent and most rivers, 

 and may be used with a large Coch-y-bonddy on 

 the same lash. It is not every angler who lives 

 on the banks of a trout stream. Optandum qui- 

 dam erat 



The imitations of the Oak Fly resemble also 

 another fly still more abundant and common, 

 called the Scorpion fly (Panorpa communis). 



