THE FAMOUS MARCH-BROWN. 103 



every cow's dropping, when it will be observed 

 that their wings are very transparent, which 

 should be carefully imitated by a thin, almost dia- 

 phanous feather, with a glossy reflection from it. 

 The body should be rather full and rough, and of 

 a tawny hue. The wings should never be upright 

 or divided." 



Peacock-fly. Body, brown peacock's harl, 

 dressed with mulberry-coloured silk; wings, the 

 darkest part of the starling's wing-feather ; legs, 

 a hackle stained dark purple. Hackle-feathers 

 may be dyed red by boiling them in an infusion of 

 logwood and Brazil wood, and then they may be 

 changed to purple, by putting them in a warm 

 solution of potash. 



The March-brown, or dun-drake. This is, 

 perhaps, the best fly that can be used from the 

 middle of March to the middle of April, and 

 sometimes up to May. It is a large, showy fly, 

 and almost as great a favourite in March as the 

 May-fly in May. It has various names, viz. the 

 cob-fly, brown caughlan, and turkey -fly, and kills 

 every where. In a work I edited for Mr. Shipley, 

 of Ashbourn, I find the following note : " On 

 the 23d of March, 1836, we killed with this fly, 

 from one and the same standing on the Dove, six- 

 teen trout and one grayling. We fished with two 

 flies of this sort on our casting-line at the same 

 time, and we caught three times successively two 



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