276 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



of Isabella-coloured * mohair ; the body as little as can "be made i 

 and the wings, of a bright mallard's feather. An admirable fly, 

 and in great repute amongst us for a killer. 



5. There is, besides this, another blue dun ; f the dubbing of 

 which it is made being thus to be got. Take a small tooth- 

 comb, and with it comb the neck of a black grayhound, and the 

 down that sticks in the teeth will be of the finest blue that ever 

 you saw. The wings of this fly can hardly be too white ; and 

 he is taken about the tenth of this month, and lasteth till the 

 four-and-twentieth. 



6. From the tenth of this month also, till towards the end, 

 is taken a little black gnat. The dubbing, either of the fur of 

 a black water-dog, or the down of a young black water-coot ; 

 the wings, of the male of a mallard as white as may be ; the 

 body as little as you can possibly make it, and the wings as 

 short as his body. 



7. From the sixteenth of this month also to the end of it, 

 we use a bright brown ; the dubbing for which is to be had out 

 of a skinner's lime-pits, and of the hair of an abortive calf, 

 which the lime will turn to be so bright, as to shine like gold ; 

 for the wings of this fly, the feather of a brown hen is best. 

 Which fly is also taken till the tenth of April. 



APEIL. 



All the same hackles and flies that were taken in March will 

 be taken in this month also, with this distinction only concerning 

 the flies, that all the browns be lapped with red silk, and the 

 duns with yellow. 



* Isabella, Spezie di colore che partecipa del bianco e del giallo. Altieri's 

 Dictionary. A kind of whitish yellow, or, as some say, bun' colour a little 

 soiled. 



How it came by this name will appear from the following anecdote, for 

 which I am obliged to a very ingenious and learned lady. The Archduke 

 Albertus, who had married the Infanta Isabella, daughter of Philip the 

 Second, King of Spain, with whom he had the Low Countries in dowry, 

 in the year 1602, having determined to lay siege to Ostend, then in posses- 

 sion of the heretics, his pious princess, who attended him in that expedi- 

 tion, made a vow that, till it was taken, she would never change her 

 clothes. Contrary to expectation, as the story says, it was three years 

 before the place was reduced, in which time her Highness's linen had 

 acquired the above mentioned hue. 



f Blue, or violet dun. Dub with the roots of a fox cub's tail, and a 

 very little blue-violet worsted ; warp with pale yellow silk ; wing, of the 

 pale part of a starling's feather. This fly is taken from eight to eleven, 

 and from one to three. 



This fly, which is also called the ash-coloured dun, and blue dun, is 

 produced from a cadis ; it is so very small, that the hook, known at the 

 shops by the size No. 9, is full big enough for it, if not too big. The shape 

 of the fly is exactly the same with that of the green drake. So early in 

 the year as February, they will drop on the water before eight in the 

 morning ; and Trouts of the largest size, as well as small ones, will rise at 

 them very eagerly. 



