CHOICE AND LOCATION OF FEATHERS. 51 



use, it may be well to offer some remarks of a general nature upon them. 

 To become an adept in tbe selection and manipulation of these materials, 

 and for securing in the fly a permanent obedience to pattern, the student 

 should make himself familiar with the characteristic qualities of the 

 feathers, not only those which distinguish one bird from another, but 

 those from different parts of the same bird. For example, he should 

 learn that certain kinds of feathers are more easily induced to " marry " 

 than others, and that those of a stiffer nature are best placed lowest in the 

 wing in order to ensure the necessary quality of mobility ; thus, in work- 

 ing with Mallard, Teal, and Golden Pheasant tail, the Mallard poses 

 above, and the Teal in the centre. Also, that a leading tail feather of 

 the Golden Pheasant, in point of tractability and ease of manipulation, 

 is out of all comparison to be preferred to other tail feathers from the 

 same bird. 



It is- hardly necessary to insist that feathers should be gathered at 

 the right season of the year. The best season for almost all English bred 

 birds is Christmas, at which time the new livery has neither been 

 tarnished by wear, nor by the rays of a burning sun. But there are 

 exceptions. Early in the autumn, for instance, the Golden Pheasant, 

 reared in this country, struts about in its new outfit before other birds 

 begin to cast off their seedy summer coats. Again, a good speckled Teal 

 is rarely, if ever, met with till the end of the month of January. During 

 summer and autumn the feathers of birds, as a rule, are faded and limp 

 a condition the fly-dresser always avoids. No necks change more in 

 colour, or quality between winter and summer, than the well-known 

 blue-duns. 



Writers have very properly objected to the prevailing practice of 

 stripping birds of their winter covering. The scissors should always be 

 used ; the operation then is painless, and with a little extra protection in 

 the fowl-house at night, the birds never suffer. "Pulling necks" is 

 injurious, for the next crop will team with lighter and weaker feathers, 

 whereas the scissors tend to produce an opposite effect. Free feeding 

 with hernpseed in the moulting season, once every other day, makes a 

 vast difference to feathers in fineness, transparency, sheen, pencillings, 

 and depth of tone. The feathers of mature birds are better than those 



E2 



