FLY MAKING. 449 



of necessity be selected with great care, and the process of dyeing 

 them in my experience, except in the case of Judson's dyes, has not been 

 attended with remarkable success. I nevertheless give some directions 

 for doing so below. As many of the feathers are valuable, it is eminently 

 necessary that they should be preserved against the inroads of insects 

 and damp. For this purpose, if the angler can afford it, he should 

 provide himself with one of the entomological cabinets which are manu- 

 factured moth proof (mine came from Baker's, of 244, High Holborn), 

 and neither moth nor mildew then need be apprehended. When the fly 

 fisher goes " a fishing " he can select a few of the feathers he supposes 

 he may require, and these can be carried in a small russia leather case, 

 in which I find a mite of camphor very useful as a preservative against 

 possible vermin. 



The feathers the angler, as a beginner, will find the most useful, 

 are as follows : Hackles from the neck of blue dun hens, especially 

 those with ginger coloured edging ; hackles from the neck and near the 

 tails of game cocks, both red and furnace ; hackles from the neck of 

 the black Spanish cock ; scapula feathers of the woodcock or grouse, 

 and brown mottled feathers from a partridge's back. These, with 

 wings of the starling, landrail, and hen pheasant, and tail feathers of 

 the wren, with some peacock and ostrich herl, may suffice to begin 

 with. Some grey and brown mottled feathers from the wild drake may 

 be added to the collection. These feathers are almost absolutely neces- 

 sary to even the beginner, and as there is no special difficulty in obtaining 

 them, should all find a place in the list of useful materials. 



As I have mentioned dyeing as being an operation of convenience,, 

 it may not be out of place here to give one or two of the most reliable 

 and useful recipes. They are taken from Eonald's " Flyfisher's 

 Entomology," not because there is not plenty of equally good for- 

 mulae, and possibly some better, but because I have personally tried each 

 of those which follow and found them satisfactory. Of course I am not 

 forgetting Judson's dyes. 



1. To dye white feathers a dun colour. Make a mordant by dissolving 

 about a ^oz. of alum in water, and slightly boil the feathers in it, taking 

 care that they shall be thoroughly soaked or saturated with the solu- 

 tion ; then boil them in water with fustic shumach, and a small quan- 

 tity of copperas ; put the feathers into it until they have assumed the 

 required tint. The fustic, or copperas, will give a yellow or dun 

 hue. The greater the quantity of copperas the deeper will be 

 the dye. 



2. To turn red hackles "brown. Put a piece of copperas the size of 

 half a walnut into a pint of water ; boil it, and whilst boiling put in. 



GG 



