890 THE PURPLE AXD GREEN KINGS. 



For these last two patterns I am indebted to my friend 

 Mr. C. Grant of Aberlour. Mr. Grant very kindly fur- 

 nished me with minute particulars as to the dressing, 

 dyeing, &c., 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 common 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 com* 

 posed 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 usecfj 

 in both, and redder feathers. I enclose some dubbing oi 

 each to fit the present season. 



* Without having any prejudice against gaudy flies, I 

 would prefer Purple and Green Kings with their numeroud 

 offspring, provided I could get proper hackles to tie them! 

 to any flies that can be used on the Spey. The flies whicra 

 I have sent you will be in size next month (July), and E 

 have no doubt but that they will kill upon any river in 

 Scotland. 



