THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 279 



6. Then a white gnat, with a pale wing, and a black head. 



7. There is also, this month, a fly called the peacock-fly; 

 the body made of a whirl of a peacock's feather, with a red head ; 

 and wings, of a mallard's feather. 



8. We have then another very killing fly, known by the name 

 of the dun-cut ; * the dubbing of which is a bear's dun, with a 

 little blue and yellow mixed with it ; a large dun wing, and two 

 horns at the head, made of the hairs of a squirrel's tail. 



9. The next is the cow-lady, a little fly ; f the body, of a pea- 

 cock's feather ; the wing, of a red feather, or strips of the red 

 hackle of a cock. 



10. We have then the cow-dung fly ; the dubbing, light brown 

 and yellow mixed ; the wing, the dark gray feather of a mallard. 

 And note that, besides these above mentioned, all the same hackles 

 and flies, the hackles only brighter, and the flies smaller, that are 

 taken in April, will also be taken this month, as also all browns 

 and duns; and now I come to my stone-fly and green-drake, which 

 are the matadores for Trout and Grayling, and, in their season, 

 kill more fish in our Derbyshire rivers, than all the rest, past 

 and to come, in the whole year besides. 



But first, I am to tell you, that we have four several flies 

 which contend for the title of the May-fly, namely, the green- 

 drake, the stone-fly, the black-fly, and the little yellow May-fly. 



And all these have their champions and advocates to dispute 

 and plead their priority ; though I do not understand why the 

 two last named should the first two having so manifestly the 

 advantage, both in their beauty, and the wonderful execution 

 they do in their season. 



11. Of these, the green-drake comes in about the twentieth 

 of this month, or betwixt that and the latter end, (for they are 

 sometimes sooner and sometimes later, according to the quality 

 of the year,) but never well taken till towards the end of this 

 month and the beginning of June. The stone-fly comes much 

 sooner, so early as the middle of April, but is never well taken 

 till towards the middle of May, and continues to kill much longer 

 thanthe green-drake stays with us, so long as to the end almost of 

 June ; and, indeed, so long as there are any of them to be seen 

 upon the water ; and sometimes, in an artificial fly, and late at 

 night, or before sunrise in the morning, longer. 



Now, both these flies, and I believe many others, though I 

 think not all, are certainly and demonstratively bred in the very 

 rivers where they are taken ; our cadis or cod-bait, which lie 



* Dun-cut. Dub with bear's cub fur, and a little yellow and green 

 crewel ; warp with yellow or green: wing, of a land-rail. Towards the 

 evening of a showery day, this is a great killer. 



f Not a fly exactly, though it has wings, but the little roundish, reddish 

 beetle, with black spots, otherwise called a lady-bird, (Coccinella.)J. R. 



