124 Fly-fishing for Mahseer. CHAP. vii. 



known to me, and I have no desire for favouritism, and make no 

 merchandise out of such kindly assistance. My sole object is to give 

 the angler and his friend, i.e., his tackle-maker of his own selection, 

 definite standards of size, so that he may both clearly understand me 

 and be able to make his tackle-maker understand him. That the 

 angler shall on every occasion of an order look up and quote the 

 manufacturer whose name is connected with the scale is not to be 

 expected, nor will it serve any useful purpose, for every tackle-maker 

 makes his own careful selection of the manufacturer he employs, 

 ordering from one perhaps for one class of hook, and from another 

 ' for another. All the angler has to do is to specify that he quotes his 

 size from this book. His tackle-maker will then know how to do the 

 rest. He need not confine himself to Pennell hooks if he prefers any 

 other, or even to eyed hooks if he prefers them tapered. He has only 

 to specify the plate from which he quotes size, and his tackle-maker will 

 be in a position to make no mistake about giving him the equivalent 

 size in any hook he desires. 



Having thus come to an understanding, or to a misunderstanding, 

 which you will, but at least to something definite about the sizes of 

 hooks, I will describe the flies to be tied on them, adhering, of course, 

 to what I must perforce call my own scale, because there is none other 

 that I can quote. 



THE BLACKAMOOR. 



Tag : three or four turns of tinsel. Tail : two or three sprays of 

 peacock harl from the end of the tail feathers that end without an eye, 

 and are feathered only on one side. Body, peacock harl very full and 

 ribbed with two or three turns of tinsel. Legs or hackle, commencing 

 small, a little short of the tail end of the body, and carried up to the 

 shoulder, hackle increasingly large and increasingly thick, and forming 

 also the shoulder hackle, which may be full. For this use the tip end 

 of one of those tail feathers of the peacock that ends without an eye, 

 and that has harl on one side only, as those are much the brightest, and 

 of a convenient length for the larger flies ; for the smaller, the feathers 

 taken from the back of the peacock may be substituted. Wing : the 

 glossiest, deepest black procurable, e.g., the black crane, the raven, the 

 glossy blue-black feathers of the magpie's tail, with a sprinkling of the 



