164 ROD AND RIVER 



THE RED QUILL. 



One of the best of all good flies. It is dressed 

 thus : 



Wings : Light or medium starling. 



Hackle: Red. 



Body : A stripped quill of peacock herl, or the 



quill of a starling wing-feather. 

 Tails : From a red hackle. 



A most useful pattern of the red spinner class. 



Different districts have different names for the 

 flies used therein. .Thus, in Devonshire, the 

 blue dun is termed the ' blue upright,' by reason 

 of its carrying its wings erect, though this peculi- 

 arity is by no means limited to this fly, for all the 

 Ephemera carry their wings in a similar manner. 

 Ronalds terms it the * cock-tail,' though why I 

 do not know, for all the Ephemera cock their tails 

 much in the same manner. Theakstone calls it 

 the ' blue bloa/ a Yorkshire term for it ; what the 

 word ' bloa ' signifies I am at a loss to imagine. 

 When the body is made of hare's ear, it is termed 

 ' hare lug/ lug being Scotch for ear, or ' hare's 

 flax/ flax meaning fleck or fur. In like manner 

 the olive dun is termed the ' olive bloa.' In 

 Hampshire the blue dun is styled the ' blue 

 quill/ and the olive dun the ' olive quill/ by 

 reason of quill being used in the manufacture of 



