FEATHERS FOR MAKING SPIDERS. 83 



no other feathers possess, and we always use them in 

 place of the black cock-hackle. Next to them we 

 rank the feathers of a reddish -brown colour taken 

 from the outside of the wing of the landrail, the 

 only feathers which take the place of the red cock- 

 hackle ; and as it is impossible to get any quantity 

 of these sufficiently small, we frequently find it 

 necessary to have recourse to red hackles. 



The feathers of the dotterel are also held in high 

 esteem, but all those just mentioned may with 

 advantage be substituted for the hackle in the for- 

 mation of all trouting flies and spiders. Their supe- 

 riority consists in their much greater resemblance to 

 the legs of an insect, and their extreme softness. So 

 soft are they, that when a spider is made of one of 

 them and placed in the water, the least motion will 

 agitate and impart a singularly life-like appearance 

 to it, whereas it would have no effect upon a cock- 

 hackle. Spiders dressed of very soft feathers are 

 more suitable for fishing up than for fishing down, 

 as, if drawn against the stream, it runs the fibres 

 alongside of the hook, and all resemblance to an in- 

 sect is destroyed. 



Killing spiders may be made of all the feathers 

 we have mentioned, but the three following are all 

 we consider necessary : 



1st. The Black Spider. This is made of the 

 small feather of the, cock starling, dressed wi 

 brown' silk, aSd is, upon the^ whole, the most killing 

 imitation we know. We were first shown it by 



