200 THE MARCH BROWN. 



would seem a hopeless imitation indeed ; the darker 

 feather from a starling's, or rather from a lien blackbird's, 

 wing is often used. The inside part of the brown tinged 

 feather in a jay's wing, brown owl, drake, and many others, 

 are employed ; but the best imitation in feathers, to my 

 mind, is conveyed by the dark shining tips of a blue 

 cock's hackle those which are grizzled or freckled mth a 

 golden tinge at the point, hitting off the resemblance 

 almost exactly, the open fibrous nature of the hackle 

 giving the glassy transparency so much required, and 

 which cannot be conveyed by any other feather, the 

 springiness and play of the cock's hackle being required 

 here also. Hooks, Nos. 9 and 10. I always have my 

 spinners dressed with the above wing, and they answer 

 admirably. 



Tke March Brown, or cob-fly of Wales ; brown drake, 

 Yorkshire (see Plate VIII. fig 3, p. 185). This is another 

 very celebrated fly, and when on it is a great and deserved 

 favourite. It comes on in March, and lasts, with its 

 metamorphosis, the great red spinner, until May. It can 

 be used at times throughout the season ; but its advent is 

 in March, when some waters positively swarm with it. It 

 varies slightly in size, and the male and female differ a 

 little in shade of colour, the female having a greenish 

 tinge, and being of a somewhat lighter colour. It is a 

 largish fly, and should be dressed usually on a No. 8 hook, 

 though on fine waters it is dressed smaller. Body, of a 

 dark brown fur, hare's ear or face, ribbed with tawny 

 yellow silk (some use straw colour) ; legs, hackle from a 

 partridge's back ; tail, two strands of the same ; wings, 

 the dark mottled and blurred feather from a cock phea- 

 sant's wing (some use partridge tail, or a mottled woodcock 

 feather, or the speckled feather from a game hen's rump, 

 but the pheasant's wing is the best imitation). For the 

 female, the legs may be from the partridge breast, the 



