FEATHERS FOR MAKING SPIDERS. 87 



no means deserving of so much, attention as is 

 bestowed upon it, being too stiff and wiry to repre- 

 sent the legs of an insect, and we prefer hen- 

 hackles, or still better, the small feathers taken 

 from the neck or outside of the wings of a variety 

 of small birds. But these latter are not always to 

 be had of the colour wanted, and cock-hackles are 

 very convenient to fall back upon, but should be 

 selected as soft in the fibre as possible. Amongst 

 those most serviceable to the angler are the small 

 feathers taken from the outside of the wings, as 

 also from the neck and shoulders of the following 

 birds : The starling, landrail, dotterel, mavis, 

 grey plover, golden plover, partridge, and grouse. 

 Of the foregoing, we consider the feathers taken 

 from the cock starling the most valuable of all to 

 the angler. They have a rich glossy black, which 

 no other feathers possess, and we always use them 

 in place of the black cock-hackle. Next to them 

 we rank the feathers of a reddish-brown colour 

 taken from the outside of the wing of the landrail, 

 the only feathers which take the place of the red 

 cock-hackle ; and as it is impossible to get any 

 quantity of these sufficiently small, we frequently 

 find it necessary to have recourse to red hackles. 



The feathers of the dotterel are also held in high 

 esteem, but all those just mentioned may with 

 advantage be substituted for the hackle in the for- 

 mation of all trouting flies and spiders. Their 

 superiority consists in their much greater resem- 



