38 FLY-FISHING. 



It will thus be seen that the body of the fly 

 is made of the same strand of silk with which 

 the gut is tied on, and that the " whisk'' is made of 

 the same feather that forms the legs, or hackle. 

 A fly thus constructed cannot break until the 

 hackle or body silk is actually worn through, 

 and will last twice as long as one made on the 

 ordinary plan, where the hackle, wings, &c., are 

 constantly coming undone at the head. The 

 saving in time in tying a fly (say a March brown) 

 thus, as compared with the common method, is 

 about 400 per cent. ; which I have proved by 

 having frequently tied the fly on my plan com- 

 plete in forty-five seconds, whilst in the ordinary 

 method it cannot be tied by even a professional 

 hand under three minutes. The whole process 

 is, moreover, so exceedingly simple that a single 

 lesson ought to be sufficient to impart it to the 

 merest tyro. 



The difficulty which gave me the most trouble 

 to overcome was the body-silk. In order to use 

 this for whipping on the hook, &c., it was of course 

 necessary to wax it ; but I found that the ordinary 

 "cobbler's" wax quite destroyed the colouring of 

 the yellows and greens. It was also necessary in 



