462 COLOUR AFFECTED BY WET, WAX, ETC. 



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 brighter 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 if it 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 

 l>ack until you can take hold of the but of it between the 

 finger and thumb, the bright or upper face of the hackle 

 lying downwards towards the knuckles (see Plate XIV. 

 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 but 

 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 XIV. 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 



