138 ROD AND RIVER 



same flies. I have no desire to state this as a 

 positive fact, because I have no right to be 

 positive regarding a subject which I have neither 

 proved nor am able to prove. I only express my 

 belief. Perhaps some one of my readers may be 

 able to solve the problem. 



There are various dressings of the blue dun, 

 the wings in nearly every instance being taken 

 from the wing- feather of the starling, light or 

 dark-coloured, as may be desired. The body is 

 at times represented by fur from the hare's ear, 

 at others by a strip of quill taken from the wing- 

 feather of the starling, or a feather of similar 

 colour and texture. These two dressings are the 

 most common, and I think the best ; nor can 

 there be any better fly, for general use, than the 

 hare's ear, whether ribbed with gold tinsel or 

 without. Mr. Hal ford is loud in its praise, and 

 quotes a case where a friend of his, a noted fisher- 

 man, uses scarcely any other fly throughout the 

 season. I think I know to whom he refers, 

 and if so, he is certainly one of the best and 

 most successful of our Hampshire anglers. I 

 myself also owe this pattern of fly many a 

 debt of gratitude, and can vouch for its attrac- 

 tive powers, when other flies have proved 

 useless. 



Ronalds calls this fly the ' cocktail ' ; he states 

 that it lives some three or four days in its first, 



