216 FLIES. 



I do not consider that they had any effect towards 

 the fascination of our friend Salmo, I may as well 

 tell you now, once for always, as 1 shall have fre- 

 quent occasion to mention " the wing-feathers" of 

 a bird, that unless I specify any others, you are 

 to understand that, taking off, and exclusive of 

 five or six of the longest, which are termed pinion 

 feathers, and in fact form the point of the wing, 

 I refer to the eight or nine next largest in size ; and 

 of them we use the fibres on the concave side of 

 the stem, corresponding to those which, as a 

 matter of course, you would strip off from a goose 

 quill preparatory to making a pen. They are 

 much finer and rather longer than those on the 

 other or convex side, and are, therefore, preferred. 

 Here is a fly of a similar pattern to that which 

 so raised your ecstacies, and with which you might 

 have done execution before breakfast. It is of a 

 more elaborate description than the preceding one, 

 a regular salmon-fly ; and, by-the-bye, it is a 

 great favourite here, so remember it well. The 

 hook was, perhaps, a sixteenth of an inch less 

 than the preceding, namely, fourteen-sixteenths 

 long. Below the tail is thin silver thread or wire, 

 then comes a golden pheasant's top-knot for tail ; 

 above that, three or four turns of black ostrich 

 hurl. The body, of crimson mohair left rough, 

 is ribbed over with silver thread. It is sometimes 



