64 TROUT FISHING 



stock of fowls, reds, blues, and blacks will alone 

 be born. By choosing a red bantam we shall 

 ensure a richness of tinge in our hackle, and 

 procure more rusty blues and reds than plain and 

 sober-coloured feathers. These rusty feathers 

 are by far the most rare, and by far the best when 

 obtained ; they combine several colours, and shot 

 as it were over the surface of a rich glossy 

 grounding in blue and red, and on scrutinizing 

 their surface carefully we perceive the exact 

 similarity in tints of shading to the natural 

 colour of various furs, as the ends of hare's flax, 

 water-rat, and mouse and fox fur, pulled out 

 and mixed well together. There is a class of 

 fowls generally red, of the Indian breed, which 

 are decidedly objectionable for fly-fishing; the 

 feathers look very well and pleasing when dry, 

 but after they have been soaked in water some 

 time, they become soft, flabby, and of a dull hue, 

 as though they had been dusted over with brown 

 sand these fowls have a white ear, and any cross 

 with them will show the characteristic ear, which 

 in itself is sufficient to make one reject at once 

 any offer of their feathers. I generally pluck my 

 fowls twice in the year ; in the spring as soon as 

 the bird has assumed his gay summer dress, and 

 again, late in the autumn, before moulting season, 

 when I find many hackles, which in the spring I 

 would not take, because too small, now however 

 grown of proper size : but the best time for pluck- 

 ing- fowls depends on the condition of their 

 bodies ; often in some adjoining yards one cock is 



