ON TACKLE MAKING, ETC. 155 



off a fragment of feather from the wing of a starling, 

 thrush, or other bird of the requisite size, and, holding 

 the feather between the left finger and thumb, fit it care- 

 fully to the hook, so that it may not be too long or too 

 short, and, having nipped in the butt end of the feather in 

 the place where the tying silk should come, take three or 

 four turns of it over that spot, and fasten off ; and if you 

 have managed it well, you will find the wing of the fly sit 

 up well, and open in shape like unto the wing of a fly. If 

 not, and the wing be askew or broken, you must humour 

 it as well as you can, and make the best of it. Practice 

 alone will put you on velvet here. Many tyers use a pair 

 of wings. In this case you should pull pieces from both 

 the bird's wings, so that they may sit well right and left. 

 Having tied your wings on separate, then, with the dubbing 

 needle, cut off stumps, touch with varnish, and all is 

 finished. (Fig. 9.) In about eight or nine-tenths of the 

 winged flies, however, the hackle is not carried all up the 

 body. In this case, when you are carrying your silk up to 

 the head, after tying in at the bend of the hook the end of 

 the material which is to form the body, you do not tie in 

 the tip of the hackle with it, but wait till the silk reaches 

 half or two-thirds up the shank of the hook, and tie the 

 tip of the hackle in there, when two or three turns suffice 

 after the body is on, which is worked up to the head and 

 past the hackle, carefully avoiding it in the process. If a 

 tail is wanted, it usually consists of two or three points or 

 strands of some hackle or other feather ; they are whipped 

 on above the bend of the hook, after it is lashed to the 

 gut, before any other process is taken. If a spiral of 

 tinsel be required, it is tied in at the bend at the same 

 time as the body material ; and after the body is wound 



