SETTING OF THE WINGS. 75 



They may be set either horizontally, the one with the 

 other, as they are placed in the moth, the bee, common 

 house-fly, and various other insects, or in such a manner 

 that they shall correspond, in point of position, with the 

 wings of the butterfly and of the generality of water- 

 ephemerse, that is, with their inner sides turned face to 

 face, at a considerable angle of elevation from the body. 

 The mode first described is, I find, preferred to the 

 other by many salmon fishers, because, say they, the 

 horizontal position of the wings assists in giving 

 buoyancy to the hook, enabling one to hang it with 

 more effect over the fish, especially in currents of slug- 

 gish rate or in dead water under an uncertain breeze. 

 At the same time, to set the wings so as to retain this 

 position requires greater address and attention on the 

 part of the fly-dresser, and is, in fact, a good test of his 

 skill and proficiency. In tying on the wings of a 

 salmon hook, care should be taken not to break or 

 disarrange the slips of feather of which each wing is 

 separately composed. Some feathers, such as the brown 

 mottled ones taken from the back of the mallard, are 

 less adhesive than others, and consequently more liable 

 to become disarranged. The hold which the slips in 

 question possess seems, in this feather, to exist merely 

 at the root ; the portion in demand therefore for the 

 formation of the wing requires to be stript away from 

 its support with the thumb and foreflnger, whereas, in 

 the case of a turkey or silver pheasant tail-feather, the 

 wing may be cut off and shaped with more neatness and 

 economy by means of a sharp pen-knife. Rump-fea- 

 thers, those of the turkey especially, and some tail and 

 breast ones taken from other birds, admit of being 

 readily shaped out into connected pairs, so as to form 

 horizontal wings, corresponding accurately together in 



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