THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 275 



MARCH. 



For this month you are to use all the same hackles and flies 

 with the other ; but you are to make them less. 



1. We have, besides, for this month, a little dun, called a 

 whirling dun,* (though it is not the whirling dun indeed, which 

 is one of the best flies we have ;) and for this, the dubbing- 

 must be of the bottom fur of a squirrel's tail ; and the wing, of 

 the gray feather of a drake. 



2. Also a bright brown ; the dubbing either of the brown of 

 a spaniel, or that of a red cow's flank, with a gray wing. 



3. Also a whitish dun, made of the roots of camel's hair, 

 and the wings, of the gray feather of a mallard. 



4. There is also for this month a fly called the thorntree fly ; 

 the dubbing, an absolute black, mixed with eight or ten hairs 



ends of the. silk. Thus you will have made a bait that will catch Trout of 

 the largest size, in any water in England. 



It is true, the method above described will require some variation in the 

 case of gold and silver twist palmers ; in the making whereof, the manage, 

 ment of the twist is to be considered as another operation ; but this 

 yariation will suggest itself to every reader, as will also the method of 

 making those flies, contained in the notes, that have hackle under the 

 wings ; which else we should have added to Cotton's directions for making' 

 a fly, which he gives Viator in the fishing-house. See chap. v. 



* Great whirling dun. Dub with fox-cub's or squirrel's fur, well 

 mixed with about a sixth part of the finest hog's wool ; warp with pale 

 orange wings, very large, taken from the quill feather of a ruddy hen j 

 the head to be fastened with ash-coloured silk ; a red cock's hackle, at full 

 length, may be wrapped under the wings, and a turn or two lower towards 

 the tail. 



This is a killing fly, and is to be seen rising out of the hedges in most 

 Trout rivers, late in the evening, seldom before sunset, and continues on 

 the water till midnight, or after. It is found in most of the warm months ; 

 but kills chiefly in a blustering, warm evening, from the middle of May 

 to the end of July. 



The directions of Mr Cotton for making flies are to be considered as the 

 very basis and foundation of that art, no author before him having ever 

 treated the subject so copiously and accurately as he has done: what 

 improvements have been made since his time have been handed about in 

 manuscript lists, but have hardly ever been communicated to the public. 



A reverend, worthy, and ingenious friend of mine, a lover of angling, 

 who has practised that and the art of fly-making these thirty years, and is 

 the gentleman mentioned in the note, p. 194, has generously communicated 

 to me the result of his many years' experience, in a list of a great number 

 of flies not mentioned by Cotton, with some variations in the manner of 

 making those described in the text. And as to these deviations, it is 

 hoped they will be considered as improvements ; since I am authorized to 

 say, that the above gentleman has, in the making of flies, made it a constant 

 rule to follow nature. 



Part of this list is, for very obvious reasons, wrought into the form of 

 notes on that of Mr Cotton ; and the rest, with another very valuable 

 catalogue, composed by a north country angler, and communicated to me 

 by the same gentleman, make Nos. II. and III. of the Appendix. 



The reader will there also find No. IV. a List of Flies, formerly published 

 in the Angler's Fade Mecum, so often referred to m the course of this work : 

 and though the flies therein contained are said to be chiefly of use in stony, 

 I have tried some of them, especially the duns, in other rivers, and found 

 them to be excellent. 



