158 ROD AND RIVER 



a note of it, and profited by the discovery on 

 future occasions. 



It is not only during the evening that this fly 

 can be used to advantage, for it is most valuable 

 on warm, drizzling summer days, especially if 

 fished wet. 



Although some of the spinners are termed 

 * red ' as, for instance, those from the March 

 brown and the August dun the colour may 

 be more correctly described as a ruddy chest- 

 nut. 



Ask for a red spinner at a tackle-shop, and 

 the chances are that the pattern produced will be 

 dressed with red wool, ribbed with gold wire, and 

 winged with a starling's feather. When wet, this 

 dressing very fairly represents the red spinners of 

 the two flies above-named ; but, as a rule, the 

 bodies of such artificials are made far too full and 

 fat, whereas transparent slimness of body is one 

 of the most marked characteristics of the spinner. 

 For wet fly-fishing this dressing answers very 

 well ; but where it is necessary to use the fly dry, 

 a dyed quill or horsehair body is more suitable. 

 The wings of a spinner are also so gauzy and 

 ethereal in texture that it is most difficult to 

 imitate them. The starling wing-feather is far 

 too heavy and opaque, and altogether unworthy 

 of representing so exquisite a structure. Francis 

 Francis and others advise the adoption of the 



