12 THE SALMON FLY. 



mastered the preliminaries in detail, it will not be long before he will 

 boldly attack the most elaborate patterns and venture with enthusiasm 

 upon the artistic expression of his own fancies in all the kaleidoscopic 

 possibilities of fur and feather, floss and pigs-wool. 



As a conclusion to the disappointing instructions of many guide books 

 for " fly-dressers " the student is advised that, as the art, after all, cannot 

 really be learnt from books, he should resort to some professional " tier " 

 to teach him. This suggests the probability that the writer of the guide, 

 however expert he otherwise may be, has felt himself 011 thin ice in the 

 practical knowledge of this department, or at least in the ability to 

 communicate it to others. It may be added that the better class Salmon- 

 fly of to-day is an altogether different product from that of forty years 

 ago, and, as a work of art, an incomparably superior one. No high 

 technical knowledge is needed, for example, to discern the contrast in 

 artistic excellence and working adaptation to purpose between the few- 

 standard flies as illustrated in Land and Water (under my departmental 

 Editorship) and the flies depicted in 'certain older works on angling. The 

 contrast is most striking in the symmetrical proportions, the arrangement 

 of the wings, the distribution of material generally, and in strength and 

 neatness of finish particularly. 



Blacker was, in his day, a champion "dresser," but it would have 

 been a case of almost incredible stagnation if the art he helped so much 

 to promote had made no progress since his time. It would be very unlike 

 what has in many a river happened to the fish. They have changed, or 

 been made to change, their tastes. As for Blacker's book on " Fly- 

 tying," it is, as regards Salmon-flies, practically useless for present day 

 instruction in the modus operandi, and is only valuable as a literary 

 curiosity. 



In his " Book on Angling " it is clear that my valued friend and 

 colleague, the late Mr. Francis Francis, scarcely makes a serious 

 attempt at any complete instruction in this matter. Certain it is that 

 from the directions there given alone, no novice could learn to dress a fly 

 that any tackle-maker of repute would care to place in his shop window. 

 And it is simple truth to declare that in a work unequalled to this day as 

 a complete synopsis of angling, and as such reaping the reward of 



