330 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



have before mentioned, stripped on one side (see Plate XXI, 

 Fig. n) . The object is to get off as much of the quill as possible 

 without breaking the feather ; and here again be careful that 

 the right side of the feather be stripped away, as if the wrong 

 one be taken off it will be difficult to wind it on. If the operator 

 winds the feather away from him, he must lay the feather 

 with the outside (the bright side of the two) upwards, and 

 strip off that side of it which is on the left hand. If he winds 

 the feather towards him, of course the reverse side must be 

 taken off. 



There is also a method of preparing a hackle which, though 

 chiefly used in salmon flies, can equally well be adopted for 

 trout ifit be thought desirable. Take hold of the tip of your 

 hackle with a pair of spring tweezers, put them over whichever 

 finger be most convenient for the length of the hackle on the left 

 hand ; bend the hackle back until you can take hold of the butt 

 of it between the finger and thumb, the bright or upper face of 

 the hackle lying downwards towards the knuckles (see Plate 

 XXI, Fig. 8), moisten the finger and thumb of the right hand, 

 and taking the two sides of the hackle between them, press 

 them together, gently drawing them back towards the butt of 

 the feather at the same time. Continue this process the whole 

 length of the hackle until the fibres remain in an angular 

 position with respect to the quill and each other instead of 

 flat as previously (see Plate XXI, Fig. 9). In this manner 

 the hackle can be laid on very neatly, and the fibres will point 

 all one way with great regularity albeit the legs of a natural 

 fly by no means do so ; and in this respect our neatness rather 

 overdoes nature. 



In comparing the colours of the material with those of the 

 natural fly, a due allowance should always be made for the 

 wetting which the fly gets, as this frequently deepens and 

 darkens the colour two or three shades. Always wet the fly 

 before comparison. Even the very laying on of the materials, 

 particularly in bodies, will deepen the colour. The waxing of 

 silk will deepen it many shades. All this should be borne in 

 mind, for the fly which on the hook will resemble those flitting 

 over the water to a nicety, will, when on the water, be two or 

 three shades darker, and will not consequently resemble it at 

 all ; and colour is a point beyond all others on which the fish are 

 very critical. 



