

tin. Peacock and ostrich feathers supply him with 

 herls, and those of the latter may "be dyed of any 

 colour required. Hackles, red, black, and white, 

 with a variety of intermediate shades, are obtained 

 from the neck and from the wing-coverts of the 

 common cock and hen. In fact, there is scarcely a 

 bird, from an eagle to a tom-tit, whose feathers may 

 not be of service to the angler, in enabling him to 

 vary the colours of his flies. Even the light downy 

 feather of a goose tied on a hook, in the simplest 

 fashion, has been sometimes used with success in 

 night-fishing. Bright scarlet hackles, which are 

 mostly used in dressing salmon-flies, may be ob- 

 tained from any military acquaintance who shows a 

 tuft of red feathers in his plume. The topping or 

 crest, which moves so gracefully on the head of the 

 lapwing, as he bobs about upon the fell, is often 

 recommended for the body of a fiy ; but it is more 

 praised for this purpose than it deserves, for the 

 herl of an ostrich answers the purpose much better. 

 No gentle angler will kill him for the sake of his 

 crest, nor the martin for the sake of his wing; and 

 none but a downright barbarian a scientific savage 

 who would "murder to dissect," or his purveyor, who 

 would Burke a young sweep for the price that his 

 teeth would bring at a dentist's would think of 

 shooting a wren, and she perchance a widow, with 

 a small family of thirteen unfledged young ones de- 

 pendent on her her mate having fallen a prey to a 

 hawk or a weazel, for the pitiful reward of her tail. 



