THE TARTAN. 353 



the yellow mohair ; they must be of the longest fibre, the 

 longer the better ; teal hackle on the shoulder, without 

 which no Dee fly is thought complete ; wings, two good 

 strips of swallow-tailed gled of the longest fibre, or of red 

 dun turkey of the like colour. Of course these feathers 

 must be of thin substance and fine in the fibre, to give 

 them play, and they are to be set apart a rather nice 

 operation to do neatly, the strips requiring to be carefully 

 prepared first by tying in at the extreme but ; no head, as 

 it is thought to cause a ripple, while the sharp head of the 

 regular Dee fly cuts the water with a smooth even gliding 

 motion, opening and shutting its large fibres with most 

 lifelike appearance. 



The Tartan (Plate XII. fig. 1,) is a strange-look- 

 ing fly, and is rather a troublesome fly to dress. Tag, gold 

 tinsel ; tail, gold pheasant rump ; body, half orange and 

 half scarlet-red mohair laid on sparely, of course ; broadish 

 gold tinsel also spare; hackle, first a stripped sandy- 

 red cock's hackle (that is, only one side of it to be used, 

 the other being stripped off), and on top of this, the 

 large blue-grey hackle or feather from the heron's back 

 and rump ; the larger the better, they cannot be too large, 

 as when the hackle is laid on the fibres are expected to 

 extend from the very head to the farthest bend of the 

 hook. It is an awkward feather to lay on, as are all 

 heron's hackles, being very delicate. It should be tied 

 in, to commence from as low down as it can be conve- 

 niently tied, so as to leave enough for a good thick brush 

 from the head. In winding on the hackle if any of the 

 red hackle fibres under it be wound in, they must be 

 picked out afterwards with the needle, and put in their 

 proper position. At the shoulder, a teal hackle of course. 

 Wings, two strips of silver-grey mottled turkey (the small 

 mottled feather) ; these feathers are not easy to get. When 

 this fly is finished, and before it is properly pressed down 

 into shape, it looks like an enormous spider, or daddy 



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