THE LIST OF FLIES. 



FEBRUARY. 



THE feathered choristers resume their song the starv- 

 ed trout begins to stir as winter retires, and he courts 

 the genial currents Grayling glide in the calms, and 

 Smelt abide in the deeps. Few are the flies and short 

 the intervals of flyfishing during the days of February 

 an hour or two before, and after noon, opens and 

 closes the sport for the day ; and often for days, and 

 sometimes the whole month, the weather and water 

 forbid flyfishing. 



IST. THE NEEDLE BROWN. Full length*, a 

 quarter to a quarter and one-sixteenth ; length, short 

 of a quarter ; wings near a quarter, which close very 

 small over the body with a brown horny shine upon them; 

 of lighter or darker shade, and dim transparency ; shoul- 

 ders and body dark brown and shiny. Some shew orange 

 at the joints, thighs, legs, and feelers, from a light 

 fleshy grizzle to a dark red brown, dim transparency. 



This is their winter appearance ; as the season ad- 

 vances they vary from this description in both sizes and 

 colors ; in April they come out of the water in great 



" Full length " is the length from the nose to the ends of the folded 

 wings, where they lie close over the back like the stone fly, &c., and extend 

 beyond the end of the body. 



" Length " is the length of the flies in parts of an inch, measured from 

 the extremity of the face or nose to the end of the body. 



C 



