406 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PAKT II. 



scut; with a very white and small wing. And 'tis no great 

 matter how fine you fish, for nothing will rise in this month 

 but a grayling ; and of them I never, at this season, saw any- 

 taken with a fly of above a foot long in my life : but of little 

 ones, about the bigness of a smelt, in a warm day and a 

 glowing sun, you may take enough with these two flies ; and 

 they are both taken the whole month through. 



FEBRUARY. 



1. Where the red brown of the last month ends, another, 

 almost of the same colour, begins with this ; saving, that the 

 dubbing of this must be of something a blacker colour, and 

 both of them warpt on with red silk. The dubbing that 

 should make this fly, and that is the truest colour, is to be 

 got off the black spot of a hog's ear : not that a black spot 

 in any part of the hog will not afford the same colour, but 

 that the hair in that place is by many degrees softer, and 

 more fit for the purpose : his wing must be as the other ; 

 and this kills all this month, and is called the lesser red- 

 brown. 



2. This month also a Plain Hackle, 1 or Palmer-fly, made 



with a rough black body, either of 

 black spaniel's fur or the whirl of 

 an ostrich - feather, and the red 

 hackle of a capon over all, will kill ; 

 and, if the weather be right, make 

 very good sport. 



3. Also a Lesser Hackle with a 

 black body also, silver-twist over that, 

 and a red feather over all, will fill 



macK. .fainier. . / . i it t 



your pannier, if the month be open, 



and not bound up in ice, and snow, with very good fish ; but 

 in case of a frost and snow, you are to angle only with the 

 smallest gnats, browns, and duns, you can make ; and with 

 those are only to expect graylings no bigger than sprats. 



1 The author is now in the month of February, during which are taken 

 the PLAIN HACKLE, which we should recommend to be made of black ostrich 

 herl, warped, or tied down, to the dubbing with red silk, and a red cock's 

 hackle over all. H. 



