METHODS OF MAKING PLIES. 13 



turns of the top. Then you must take the wings, lay them along 

 the shank with your right hand, and hold them stiffly in their place 

 to the hook with the left hand. This done, tie the feathers tightly 

 at the point of contact with two or three turns, cut off the super- 

 fluous ends of the feathers ; and, tying the head of the fly tight, you 

 must carry the silk round the hook, until you come to the knot 

 which fastens the wings. Divide the wings equally, and pass the 

 silk through the division, alternately, two or three times, in 

 order to keep the wings separate and distinctly from each other. 



Now prepare the hackle, by drawing down the fibres, taking 

 care to have two or three less on the but, on that side of the fea- 

 ther which comes next to the hook, in order that it may revolve 

 without twisting away. 



Tie the but-end of the hackle close to the wings, having its 

 upper or dark side to the head of the fly. The Scotch dressers of 

 flies reverse this, and tie the hackle with its under side to the 

 head, and also strip the fibres entirely from that side which touches 

 the nook. Take the dubbing between the forefinger and the 

 thumb of the right hand, twist it very thinly about your silk, and 

 carry it round the hook as far as you intend the hackle or legs to 

 extend, and hold it firm between the forefinger and thumb of the 

 left hand, or fasten it at once. Then, with your pliers, carry the 

 hackle round the hook, close under the wings, down to where you 

 have already brought your silk and dubbing ; continue to finish 

 your body, by carrying over the end of the hackle ; and when you 

 have made the body of sufficient length, fasten off, by bringing 

 the silk twice or thrice loosely round the hook, passing the end 

 through the coils to make all snug and right. 



Some finish the body of the fly thus : When the hackle is 

 fastened, after it has made the legs of the fly, the bare silk is car- 

 ried up to the legs, and there fastened. 



Second Method. This manner of proceeding differs from the 

 first in the fixing on of the wings. When you have fastened the 

 gut and hook together to the rjoint where the wings are to be tied, 

 apply the wings to the hook with the but of the feather laying up- 

 permost ; then, when the wings are well fastened, pull them back 

 into the natural position alternately ; and, having your silk firmly 

 tied to the roots of the wings (and not over the roots), the fly is to 

 be completed as in the first method, having cut off the roots of the 

 feather. 



Third Method. This includes the Irish mode of tying flies, and 

 is the plan generally adopted in those places where flies are manu- 

 factured extensively for sale. 



There are two ways of finishing a fly under this head. 



If the wings are to be reversed or turned back, they are to be 

 tied to the hook first, but not immediately turned back ; the silk 

 is carried to the tail of the fly, when the dubbing is carried round 

 the hook until the putting on of the hackle ; the hackle is tied by 

 the point, and not by the^but. Having finished the body, twist on 



