8o ON ARTIFICIAL FLIES. 



the study of the habits of the fish, of the portions of 

 the stream they frequent, and of the insects on 

 which they feed ; and to him the advice is ear- 

 nestly proffered, to learn to dress his own flies, if 

 only for the purpose of making the pattern from 

 the natural insect, with a view of getting them sub- 

 sequently copied by professional fly-dressers, whose 

 mistakes he will more easily be able to detect and 

 correct from having himself an intimate knowledge 

 of the manipulation of fly-tying. 



I do not pretend to have invented any of the 

 various processes, either of constructing the flies, 

 or preparing or dyeing the materials used, nor is 

 there, with a few exceptions, any claim on my part 

 to novelty in the particular patterns. From the 

 best sources, professional and amateur, I have 

 striven to collect and select the most useful and 

 most killing artificial flies, and leave to the practical 

 fisherman the choice of such as accord with his 

 fancy, and free permission to discard any he does 

 not consider suitable for the particular stream he 

 is in the habit of fishing ; nothing, in my opinion, 

 so much contributing to the success of a pattern 

 or dressing as a firm conviction in the mind of 

 the fisherman that it is the very best of its sort. 



The omission of so well-known a fly and one so 

 deadly in ordinary streams as the March brown, 

 cannot be passed over without a few words 

 of comment. I have never seen this particular 

 example of the Ephemera family on the Test, 



