164 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



end two or three turns of brown silk (some use peacock herl) 

 should be taken as there is a brown patch at the tail. Over 

 a silk body ribbed thus Mr. Blackler, according to " Ephemera," 

 recommends a strip of goldbeater's skin to be tightly wound. 

 This permits the body colours to be seen distinctly through, 

 gives the glassy shine to the body, and also prevents the body 

 from becoming heavily saturated with water, of course thereby 

 increasing its buoyancy. I can quite imagine that this is a 

 good plan, and I therefore give it ; of course the ribbing silk 

 should go over the skin. Of all the composition bodies I think 

 those of cork are the best, but they are not usually dressed to 

 my fancy. The cork itself is not quite the right colour of the 

 fly, and it is usual to tie the strip of cork round the shank of 

 the hook by ribbing it with brown sewing silk. I recommend a 

 better plan. Take a strand of fine floss silk of buff or ginger 

 colour, and lay it on tightly and thinly in open rings, allowing 

 the light brown of the cork to show between as the ribbing. 

 I think this makes as good a body as I know of. The tail 

 should be three strands of brown mallard feather or the same 

 of a brown-red cock's hackle ; the legs may be of the light 

 mallard feather stained ginger, some say of the same colour 

 as the wings, but both body and legs are always more ginger 

 or buff-coloured and less of olive-green than the wings ; a 

 smallish mallard feather should be selected, one not too long 

 in the fibre, and it should be dressed on the hook hacklewise ; 

 the hackle of a grey-speckled hen may be thus stained and 

 used if it be preferred. A plain ginger hackle is often used, 

 or the hackle of a Cochin hen ; I have even seen a light brown- 

 red hackle used, and all may be right and all may be wrong 

 at times, according to the locality. 



And now for the wings these are the fly maker's bete noir. 

 The feather most generally used is the grey-barred breast 

 feather of the mallard, dyed more or less of a pale olive-green ; 

 another feather is the similar feather of the summer duck or 

 wood duck, undyed or of the natural hue, and this suits also 

 on some waters, and this is my fancy. Some think the barred 

 feather of the silver pheasant's tail preferable, and in some 

 of the Irish lakes I have been assured by old practitioners that 

 nothing can equal it ; but I think it rather too strongly 

 marked for our English rivers, though it has the advantage 

 of having a fine glossy shine upon it. Taking, however, the 

 feather of the mallard or wood-duck, whichever we may choose 

 or whichever we may be able to get, rather have it dyed 



