FLY-TYING. 15 



serviceable fly, I have always followed the method of 

 putting the wings on separately, care being taken not 

 to injure the pile of the feathers ; and this should be 

 done last, the most minute drop of varnish being used 

 over the silk when the head is finished off. My first 

 effort to tie a fly turned out a thing like a humming- 

 bird, my second like a humble bee, and so on till I 

 have succeeded in making a good imitation of a gnat. 

 Patience and perseverance have done this, and none 

 will ever excel in fly-tying without exercising these 

 qualities, so essentially useful in every walk in life. As 

 a rule, the bigger the river, a superabundance of water 

 in a stream, and the more boisterous the weather, the 

 larger can be the flies used; but in summer, when 

 the rivulets and burns have become clear and low, the 

 smallest sizes must be resorted to, thrown with the 

 lightest line, from the most unobservable and most 

 sheltered position. 



Three flies, their colouring and component parts, 

 that I have found successful on almost all waters and 

 at every portion of the open season, I will describe ; in 

 fact, I have so much faith in them that I invariably 

 use all three in making my first essay on an unknown 

 river, viz., the red hackle, hare's ear and yellow, and 

 black hackle. In America, on the small trout brooks, 

 I found them equally attractive, evidence of a simila- 

 rity of taste in fish on the Eastern and Western Conti- 

 nents. Fly No. 1, the red hackle, body composed of 

 rufous wool, twisted in with tying silk, lower portions 

 of body to be fine, gradually increasing in thickness till 

 the shoulder is reached. Shoulder of bright red cock's 

 hackle, the colour that is obtained in a natural state 

 from the domestic fowl, game fowls generally pro- 



