FLY FISHING. 53 



made of the quill feather of a hen blackbird. The little whirling 

 dun comes in about the latter end of February, and continues till 

 the latter end of April. The body should be slight, the dabbing 

 of the bottom fur of a fox's brush that is of an ash colour, and 

 warped with silk of the same hue, ribbed with fine straw coloured 

 silk. It must have whisks at the tail, and a grey feather of a par- 

 tridge's breast wound on hackle fashion in lieu of wings. The 

 great dun is also a good early fly ; the body being made of dun 

 bear's hair, with a smoky dun hackle, as like in colour to a cob- 

 web as can be procured, with wings of a starling's feather ; a 

 rare killer on a blustering day if it be not too cold. Another fly 

 equally good is made with a body of the reddish fur of the breast 

 of a hare ribbed with gold twist, with a light grey feather from 

 the breast of a partridge wound on a hackle. A similar fly, only 

 that the body is made of the roots of the fur of the squirrel's tail 

 warped with ash coloured silk, also succeeds remarkably well, either 

 with or without being ribbed with the gold twist. 



The blue dun is a first rate fly, first making its appearance in 

 the early part of March, and continuing till May. It is an ephe- 

 meral fly, and like others of the genus, after a few days existence 

 it casts off its first suit and assumes a different kind of dress, but 

 as others make their appearance and supply their places, some blue 

 duns may generally be met with till the latter end of April. In 

 its last state it is called the Red Spinner, from the red colour by 

 which it is then distinguished. In either form it is freely taken. 

 There is also another ephemeral fly bearing a close resemblance to 

 the last both in its first and second dress, differing chiefly from 

 it in size ; the latter being of about twice the bulk. Before its 

 metamorphosis it is called the March brown, and is the same as 

 the cob fly so much cried up in Wales ; afterwards it is called the 

 great red spinner. A few may be seen about the middle of March, 

 but they are not usually plentiful till the mild weather sets in, 

 when they may be seen playing about in swarms by the water side, 

 particularly in a warm evening, but they become scarce towards 

 the middle of May, though some may be occasionally met with all 

 through the summer. 



All ephemeral flies should be made on Limerick hooks, as the 

 insects can be better imitated on them than on any other ; the 

 reason of this is, that the sharp extremity of the Limerick hook, if 

 the wings are tied far enough back, gives an admirable imitation 



