HOW TO DRESS A WINGED FLY. 125 



before the hackle is brought down. The ends must be cut 

 away and the silk fastened. It is better not to cut the 

 hackle feathers, but they must be neatly released with the 

 needle, so as to approach the regularity of the engraving, 

 fig. 38. Occasionally, hackles are made from the bend, and 

 wrapped towards the shank, or reversely to the plan above 

 described ; and this plan is adopted when wings have to be 

 added on small hooks. The hackle, in this case, will have 

 to be tied first by the tip, and not by the root. 



The great difficulty in dressing a winged fly is to put the 

 wings on neatly. It is thus done. The hook is armed as 

 in fig. 36 ; but the whipping is not continued to the end of 

 the shank, it stops some three or four turns off, and the 

 feathers are added which are to form the wings. These 

 wings are generally composed of a few fibres of some appro- 

 priate feather, those taken from the wing of some small 

 bird, those lying on the inside of the wing being generally 

 the longest, lightest, and most esteemed. To whip these 

 fibres on neatly, and make them lie properly, is a difficult 

 operation. You take these feathers firmly between the 

 forefinger and thumb of the right hand, and lay them on 

 the bare shank of the hook with the roots towards the 

 bend, as shown in fig. 41. The thread must be whipped 

 three or four times firmly round the butt-ends of the fibres, 

 as shown above, and the remainder of the butt-ends cut off. 

 It is necessary now to divide the wings, by passing the silk 

 between them, and crossing it as you bring it up, bend 

 the fibres back and form the head. The fly may now be 

 finished in two or three ways, principally dependent on 

 whether it is to be dressed with hackle, dubbing, or have 

 a tail. If with dubbing, a little is twisted on to tho 

 thread until it is rolled completely round it. It is then 



