8 FISHING FOR PLEASURE 



hackles he keeps a large variety of pure bred 

 game fowls. These fowls, though not certified 

 pedigree birds, have as fine a private record 

 as any birds could wish for. Mr. W. and his 

 ancestors, these birds and their ancestors, have 

 dwelt together in peace and harmony (except 

 when two cocks meet, then it is war to the death) 

 for more than sixty years. 



The birds seem to be quite aware that their 

 chief duty in life is to provide neck feathers and 

 hackles of true and varied plumage for all kinds 

 of imitations of the winged insects which so 

 artfully betray salmon, trout, and grayling. They 

 know it, and sometimes they feel it. The cocks 

 are in separate dens, each with his own seraglio. 

 There are many cocks there of the most sprightly 

 and elegant plumage, and there are others whose 

 necks are bare, not to say raw, as though suffer- 

 ing from some disease incident to moulting. It 

 curiously happens that the disease breaks out 

 just about the time when there comes a large 

 demand from all parts of the country for feathers 

 of a special plumage. Mr. W. says he cannot 

 account for it, and he thinks a carbolic treat- 

 ment would be good for them; anyhow, the 

 poor beggars have a proud but rather unhappy 

 look about them. Now I was assured that the 

 birds from which the stock of feathers is really 

 plucked have elegant and graceful necks and 

 shoulders, and they supply abundance of fea- 



