FLY FISHING. 59 



enough to answer the purpose completely in the way the horse- 

 hairs do. The head and shoulders of the insect are stout, and 

 therefore the rougher the fly is trimmed thereabouts the better; 

 stout black silk is the best for the purpose. Some prefer wings of 

 the starling or the blackbird ; but neither make so gocd an imita- 

 tion as a bold hackle over the back, with the under fibres cut off. 



Another fly that comes in about the same time as the hawthorn 

 fly, and continues till -the middle of September, I must next 

 notice. It is a small fly called the red tail. The body being of 

 black ostrich herl, with a few turns of red silk inclining to orange 

 at the tip of the tail, with a dark red hackle, with a black list at 

 the root. It is best taken about the time the wheat comes in 

 blossom, but still a killing fly at all times. 



There are also some very good flies made with the mottled fea- 

 thers of a golden plover wound on hackle fashion. One with a 

 yellow body made of light floss silk is a very good fly, and there 

 are several others equally so ; the bodies being made with rat's 

 fur ribbed with silver twist, with hare's flax of different shades, 

 fur from a fox's brush, or a squirrelPs tail, mole's fur, mohair, and 

 many other materials, which, without attempting to imitate any 

 known insect in particular, are yet found to answer their real 

 purpose, i. e. that of catching fish. The like observations apply 

 to flies tied with the grouse hackle, which is made with the red- 

 dish brown mottled feather of that bird. There are also various 

 hackles made with the red and blue hackles, the principal of which 

 are those with the dark peacock body, or of yellow floss silk ; 

 but every sort of body like those already enumerated may also be 

 successfully employed. 



To return again to the real flies, the carperer, or as it is often 

 termed the alder fly, is well taken from the middle of April till 

 the latter end of June. It may frequently be discovered pitched 

 upon bushes, and is also particularly fond of resting on old dry tim- 

 ber. It is an excellent fly to dap with, and also makes a useful 

 artificial fly, though I have rarely seen it well imitated. The best 

 materials I am acquainted with is, first to make a slight body of the 

 brightest orange floss silk, and over this wind a strip of the dark- 

 est India rubber you can procure, which will together produce a kind 

 of mulberry colour. A bold black hackle may he wound on to re. 

 present the legs, which must be trimmed in form afterwards. The 

 wings of the mottled feather of a brown hen's wing tied flat and 



i 3 



