FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC. 79 



but very rarely, we have found them more killing 

 than spiders. But in the summer months, when 

 trout are well fed and become lazy, or where they 

 are much fished for, and become shy, we have found 

 spiders much more deadly than the most tempting 

 winged fly that can be made. Nor is it necessary to 

 go very much out of the way to seek a reason for 

 this ; the hook is better concealed, and if made of 

 sufficiently soft materials, the water agitates the 

 feathers, and gives them a life-like appearance, which 

 has a wonderful effect, and is of itself a sufficient 

 reason for trout preferring them, without supposing, 

 as some do, that spiders are greater rarities than 

 flies, with a variety of other fine-spun theories. 



By universal consent, feathers seem to have been 

 fixed upon as the most suitable materials for imitating 

 flies. Some years ago gutta percha wings were tried, 

 but in every respect they are inferior. The selection 

 of proper feathers requires some care ; they should 

 always be taken from the birds when in their full 

 plumage, which is usually about Christmas. Among 

 those considered most necessary are hackles, which 

 are usually taken from the neck of the common 

 cock. It is very difficult to procure them of the 

 right colour, and still more so to procure them of the 

 right shape. In a proper hackle the fibres should be 

 longest at the root end, and taper gradually towards 

 the point. It is not one cock out of twenty whose 

 hackles merit the attention of the fly-dresser. 



The hackle generally plays a very conspicuous 

 part in the construction of trouting flies. The 



