472 THE HEAD. 



more play and motion. They are often dressed upside 

 down, and stand like a Prince of Wales' plume in the 

 * Erne Parson ; ' but it is not the fish you have to please but 

 that hostile critic at the other table, that chap Jones, who 

 can knock off two flies to your one, and whose hackles and 

 toppings never stare, whose tails curve upwards in one right 

 line (not several), and whose wings drop into their places 

 like magic, and never want rearranging, while his heads 

 don't come to pieces on handling. Ah ! what a treat it is 

 to see Jones take your fly out of the vice, and to hear him 

 ask ' What this is meant for? and what makes you prefer 

 a fly with a tail like a turkey-cock ? ' What makes you, 

 eh ? why, envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness 

 make you. But never mind, your bungle wipes Jones's 

 eye for all that, and catches that eighteen pounder in an 

 unguarded moment which he missed the other day ; so 

 equilibrium, as far as you are concerned, is restored, though 

 Jones is sulky of course, and hints darkly, opprobriously, 

 and distantly as though alluding to something taking 

 place on Benmore, miles away about ' muffs luck.' 



The toppings tied on, cut off the refuse stumps of the 

 feathers, as before directed, touch with varnish, and allow 

 to dry. 



The last thing you have to put on is the head. Now, 

 it is the custom to make heads of ostrich or peacock herl, 

 but such heads never last, they soon whip out and come to 

 pieces ; and to put in anything that you know will not last 

 is simply absurd. I generally use some small chenille of 

 different colours ; two turns of this well tied off will last, 

 and preserve the tying of the wing from damage for ever. 

 No matter what you use, lay the end of it against the 

 hook on the under side, where we would suppose the throat 

 to be. The heil or chenille lying towards the body of the 

 fly (see Plate XV. fig. 7, p. 466), tie it on with one or 



