THE SPEY 287 



turkey instead of gold pheasant tail, add also orange silk 

 between the tinsels. 



The hook used in these flies is 3 ins. long in the shank, and 

 the bend is that given as No. 3 in the scale, but which is barely 

 2,\ ins. long in the shank. 



The Purple King. Body, a light purple mohair ; hackle, 

 brownish black with light blue dun tip ; tinsel, gold and silver 

 and silver twist over hackle as before ; teal shoulder, and two 

 strips of grey mallard wing with brown tips. (Plate XV, Fig. 3.) 



The Green King. Body, orange and olive-yellow mixed 

 mohair ; hackle, brown with grey tips ; the rest of the fly 

 as before. 



For these last two patterns I am indebted to my friend 

 Mr. C. Grant of Aberlour. Mr. Grant very kindly furnished 

 me with minute particulars as to the dressing, dyeing, etc., 

 and I cannot put his directions in a better form than he has 

 put them himself, and therefore I append his letter. In it 

 he describes two other flies I had not the patterns of, viz. 

 " the Green Dog " and " Purpy." They are well-known 

 standard flies on the Spey, and may be dressed down to the 

 smallest size for midsummer ; the " Black and teal " already 

 described will be found very hard to beat on the Spey. 



"DEAR SIR, 



Agreeably to my promise, I now send you the pattern 

 Spey flies, viz. two Purple Kings and one Green King, which 

 you will easily distinguish. The hackles are got from the com- 

 mon Scotch cock, and lie on each side of the tail, at the tip of 

 the wings. The cock is rarely to be met with except with 

 Spey fishers, who breed them for the sake of their feathers. 

 The dubbing or " grounds " of the Purple King are composed 

 of purple (Berlin wool), stone red, dyed from the moss on stones, 

 and scarlet wool. The dubbing of Green King is composed 

 of green Berlin wool, stone red, yellow, a little orange, and 

 scarlet. 



In spring the Purple King is of a less red colour than one 

 used at present. The Green King at that period is more 

 green, but, as the season advances, more red is used in both, 

 and redder feathers. I enclose some dubbing of each to fit 

 the present season. 



Without having any prejudice against gaudy flies, I would 

 prefer Purple and Green Kings with their numerous offspring, 

 provided I could get proper hackles to tie them, to any flies 



