X 



CONCERNING MY ARTIFICIAL IMITATIONS 



Some time ago, when the material contained in 

 this book was running in serial form through the 

 pages of Field and Stream, I experienced the 

 greatest difficulty in trying to persuade both ama- 

 teur and professional fly-makers to tie patterns from 

 my drawings of the natural insect. The excuses 

 were both amusing and annoying. The only thing 

 left for me to overcome such a setback to my work 

 was a determination to tie my own patterns. The 

 knowledge I had of the art of fly-tying was prac- 

 tically nil; but various friends who tie their own 

 flies (and very good ones, too) seemed to think the 

 hand and brain of an artist were sufficiently deli- 

 cate and capable of doing so, and I set about the 

 task to accomplish the object of my desire. 



I have since had reason to be very grateful that 

 those refusals led me into what I now consider the 



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