EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE OF FLY-MAKING. 



WE have here diagrams representing the artificial-fly in 

 its several stages of fabrication. 



No. 1. Is what is called the hook " armed," that is to say, 

 the hook and gut-link tied or whipped together, preparatory 

 to putting on the wings of the fly. Hook and gut are whipped 

 together thus : You wax a piece of fine tying silk, about a 

 foot or eighteen inches in length ; then take your hook by 

 the bend between the thumb and forefinger of your left 

 hand ; make a whip or two of the waxed silk round the bare 

 shank of the hook nearly opposite to the barb, and having 

 done so, place your gut under the shank up to the whipping, 

 which whipping or winding of the silk you must continue 

 over gut and shank of hook up almost to the end. Make a 

 slip-knot, and allow the silk to depend. Now for the wings, 

 see 



No. 2. The wings here are partly set on. To do so, you 

 must strip from the wing-feather of some small bird, using 

 the longest fibres, a smallish bunch. You place them on the 

 back of the shank of the hook, near its end, with their butts 

 towards the bend of the hook ; you tie them down with three 

 or four whips or laps of the silk ; you then cut away the fibres 

 of the butt, and you wind your silk down the shank to 

 the spot at which you began the arming, and leave the silk 

 depending. 



No. 3. You here see the whisks or tail set on, and the 

 hackle-feather tied by the point and ready to be wound up 

 to the wings. The whisks and hackle-feather are whipped 

 on after you have finished the operations necessary for No. 2, 

 as already described. The back of the feather must be 

 towards you. Take it by the bared stem, and wind regularly 

 up the hook to the wings ; wind so that the fibres will project 

 like those of No. 4 or No. 5. When you have wound the 

 hackle-feather up the wings, fasten it down by two or three 

 whips of the silk over it ; make a slip-knot, cut away the end 

 of the stem, leave the silk depending, and then you will have 

 the representation marked 



No. 4. Now pass your silk between the division of the 

 wings, round by the butt of the half- wing on the left side of 

 the hook, and bring the silk back again between the division, 

 and round by the butt of the half-wing next to you. Force 

 the wipgs down, forwards towards the bend of the hook, and 

 tie them down behind the shoulder, at which spot you must 



