FLIES, FLY-DRESSING, ETC. 85 



A, 



left hand, lay the gut along its shank, and with a 

 well-waxed silk thread, commencing about the centre 

 of the hook, whip it and the gut firmly together, till 

 you come to the end of the shank, where form the 

 head by a few turns of the thread. This done, take 

 the feather, and laying it on with the root end 

 towards the bend of the hook, wrap the silk three 

 or four times round it, and then cut off the root 

 end. 



What remains to be done is the most critical part 

 of the whole operation : still holding the hook be- 

 tween the forefinger and thumb of your left hand, 

 take the thread, lay it along the centre of the inside 

 of the feather, and with the forefinger and thumb of 

 your right hand twirl them round together till the 

 feather is rolled round the thread ; and in this state 

 wrap it round the hook, taking care that a sufficient 

 number of the fibres stick out to represent the legs ; 

 to effect this it will sometimes be necessary to raise 

 the fibres with a needle during the operation. 

 Having carried the feather and thread down to 

 where you commenced, wrap the silk three or four 

 times round the end of the feather, and if there is 

 any left cut it off, and finish with a succession of 

 hitch-knots, or the common whip-fastening. If the 

 legs of the spider when dressed are too long, there is 

 no remedy for it ; cutting injures rather than im- 

 proves them. This is a very rough and simple mode 

 of dressing a spider, and does not make it so neat as 

 if the feather were put on by a pair of nippers, but 

 it is more natural-looking, and much more durable, 



