41? THE BRITANNIA. 



the interest of the fly-tyer, I have given a cut of it (see 

 Plate XIII. fig. 1). It kills upon two or three rivers 

 in the North, I believe, on the Ness and the Brora, and 

 occasionally elsewhere. It never was a great favourite of 

 mine, being a very troublesome fly to tie. It is, however, 

 an established favourite with some anglers, and therefore 

 I describe it Tag, gold twist ; tail, a topping ; but, two 

 turns of peacock herl. The body is in three joints ; the 

 lowest is yellow, the middle one blue, and the upper one 

 orange floss. At every joint there is a turn or two of 

 peacock herl, and tied in instead of a hackle, and pointing 

 downwards like a hackle, are three or four of the small 

 red feathers in the breast of the Indian crow. Fine gold 

 twist ; blue jay, hackle at shoulder ; mixed wing, fibres 

 of gold pheasant tail and tippet, bustard, teal, blue, yellow 

 and claret-dyed swan, and a topping over all ; peacock 

 herl head. Size, from 7 to II. 



The Bi*itannia. This is a very rich fly, but it is a tried 

 accepted favourite upon many rivers. It kills well on the 

 Thurso, to which river, by the way, I first introduced it 

 several years ago. I had very good sport with it there. 

 The tag, gold twist ; tail, a good-sized topping, a bit of 

 scarlet ibis and fibres of Florican ; body, two or three 

 turns of bright golden floss, and then bright orange pig's 

 wool ; gold tinsel, and silver twist ; bright red claret 

 hackle, bustard or wood-duck hackle over that, and dark 

 blue or green hackle on shoulder, or rather as a ruff over 

 the wing : under-wing, a couple of shovel duck-feathers, 

 with from three to five toppings over it, two short jungle- 

 cock on either shoulder, and two shorter still kingfisher 

 just below and over them at cheek ; head, gold thread. A 

 very warm gorgeous-looking fly. By using a dark orange 

 or a red-brown hackle, the warmth of the fly may be toned 

 down. The green shoulder-hackled fly is my favourite. 

 Size, 4, 5, or 6. 



