PREFACE. 



formed in shape and inartistic in colouring, but, 

 gradually, from mere dint of practice, producing 

 artificials more nearly approaching my ideal, until 

 ultimately I found myself able to tie a more or 

 less creditable fly which the fish would occasionally 

 deign to mistake for the natural insect. 



About this period I took counsel of a friend, 

 whose acquaintance I had made some short time 

 previously, and who, in addition to being one of 

 the best, if not the best dry-fly fisherman in 

 England, was an adept in all the minutiae of dyeing, 

 selecting, and preparing the materials, as well as 

 the construction of artificial flies. To this friend, 

 George Selwyn Marryat, I desire to express the 

 deepest gratitude for the unwearying patience and 

 perfect unselfishness with which he gradually in- 

 ducted me into every detail known to him, and gave 

 me the benefit of his invaluable experience, con- 

 cealing nothing which would tend to perfect me in 

 the art of imitating the various winged inhabitants 

 of the stream. I soon found that I had acquired 

 the means of giving myself a most pleasurable 

 occupation during the long winter months, when 

 fly-fishing was an impossible pursuit either from 

 the exigencies of an active City life, or from the 

 river being closed during the spawning-time of 

 the trout. 



The object of this work is to try and impart to 

 others the knowledge I thus gained, and to save 

 them many of the wearisome failures experienced 



