Il6 THE BRITISH ANGLER'S LEXICON. 



Hackles are very important articles in fly dressing, 

 and represent the legs of the fly. They are the small, hard 

 feathers that hang from the head of a game cock down 

 his neck ; also to be obtained from the necks of other 

 barn-door fowl ; good ones are occasionally to be obtained 

 from near his tail, and from the tails of small birds such 

 as the wren. The partridge and rails also furnish hackles. 

 The most generally useful ones are those taken from a 

 well-bred red game or duck-wing game cock. The better 

 bred the bird is, the better the shape of the hackle. 

 The fibres at the root of the quill should not be more 

 than half an inch long, and taper evenly to a point with 

 a perfectly straight edge, and those devoid of blue roots 

 are considered the best. A good cock's hackle will be 

 as firm as wire, so that when dressed on a fly it stands 

 out regularly and stiff. The feathers should be obtained 

 from a bird of not less than two years old ; those taken 

 from either a chicken or a bantam cock are useless, and 

 the proper season to collect them is about Christmas, when 

 the birds are in their best plumage. Hackles for dun flies 

 are generally blue or grizzled ; the former can be obtained 

 from the neck of an Andulasian cock, and the latter from 

 the grizzled cock. Dorking cocks afford cream-coloured 

 feathers, but they are soft. The wren gives a nice brown- 

 coloured, long-fibred hackle from his tail ; these also should 

 be obtained in the winter, when the feathers of this little 

 bird assume a rich rusty colour, almost the hue of a 

 withered fern. The topping of the lapwing furnishes a 

 good black hackle if taken from an old bird ; those got on a 

 young bird are too soft and short in fibre. Many fly dressers 

 use hen hackles, but they are soft, yet useful for some 

 flies. Hackles can also be picked up from many of the 



