66 TKOUT FISHING 



serviceable in the early months ; and the blues, 

 from the pale, sober blue of the heron's wing, to 

 the dark rich spangled blue of the back of a water- 

 rat, as seen when the entire fur is smoothed down. 

 A few black, and a few white hackles, and our 

 assortment is complete. 



It is not advisable to have too many furs in 

 one's box, they accumulate so fast as to become 

 a nuisance ; a few such as I have named are 

 ample ; and winged flies are of but little use on 

 rapid streams ; so we may dispense with many 

 birds* wings, tails, &c., which are cumbrous ; but 

 of our stock of hackles, I should speak very diffe- 

 rently we cannot have too many of them, pro- 

 vided they are all good; if we have good and 

 appropriate hackles, it is most easy to mix our 

 furs so as to match them, but we cannot so 

 easily match our furs with a limited supply of 

 hackles. 



Our box is now fully stocked with fly-making 

 materials, such as every one pretending to the 

 name of a fisherman must possess, for no good 

 fisherman will use flies which are not tied by 

 himself, and as the operation of making artificial 

 flies is in itself most simple, I should hope every 

 young piscator would make the attempt early, 

 and he will find fly-making a very pretty amuse- 

 ment for any spare half-hour he may chance to 

 have. For a variety of reasons it is desirable for 

 all fishermen to tie their own flies. I have so 

 often observed that those who use bought flies 

 are impressed (doubtless by the vendor) with an 



