30 THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 



carried out of the way of the hackle by throwing it over the 

 gut to the right hand, so as not to get mixed with it, but 

 easily to be brought back to make the turn and half hitch 

 which fastens the hackle firmly. Now the wings are to be 

 put in their places and a little care and judgment are 

 required to have them sitting naturally as the wings of a 

 living fly. The wing fibres are taken up by the finger and 

 thumb of left hand, having the tops level, and with finger 

 and thumb of right hand double the sides together so 

 as to take a concave form, into which the hackle and 

 dubbing of fly is pressed. The butt end of the fibres is now 

 whipped down on the bare end of the shank about one- 

 sixteenth of an inch with a few turns of the well-waxed silk, 

 and fastened off by two, or at most three half hitches ; see 

 that the wings when tied incline at an angle of forty-five 

 degrees to the shank of hook. Some flies have flatter wings, 

 and some are made more upright, according to the sort of fly 

 the imitation is intended to represent. Some dressers 

 separate the wings, by taking the tying silk between equal 

 portions of them, carrying it round the hook underneath 

 and bringing it up again once or twice so as to form a 

 distinct partition. Others put the wings on first of all, by 

 tying the butts in, leaving the fibres away from the bend, 

 and when the body is completed these wings are bent back 

 into proper direction and confined by whipping over the 

 bent fibres. Be sure and have the silk well waxed, so as to 

 finish off the tying firm, which is done by a couple of half 

 hitches or slip knots. If the fly has to be ribbed with either 

 tinsel or silk, these are tied in when the arming is done, 

 leaving them depending until the body is finished, when they 

 are wound spirally in coils up to the hackle or shoulder and 

 secured by the tying silk. When making the head, that is, 





