144 ON FLY MAKING. 



tion, and even tradition. Reproduction in art is a 

 totally different matter from re-production in nature. 

 The first-named means in reality degeneration. 

 Through such a process, truth, ideality, and efficiency 

 are lost at each successive step down the ladder of 

 routine. Let the aspiring student study and take his 

 ideal and model from nature, and then progress in 

 true worth and efficiency will be effected. 



The first thing to note when a strange natural is 

 taken in hand to copy, is the position of the wings ; as 

 if it be " flat-winged," it may be dressed hackle, or 

 palmer-wise, instead of being winged ; whilst if it be 

 up-winged, it should be dressed with wings nearly 

 erect, and broad in proportion. The reason for this is 

 obvious. The latter, when upon the water, float 

 buoyantly along, over both broken and still water, 

 which, however, is scarcely the case with the first- 

 named, as the majority of these insects being land 

 flies, naturally fail to take to the water, like the " up- 

 winged " natives ; therefore, to imitate their buzzing 

 action the copies are usually made up hackled and 

 wingless. The secondary point for consideration is 



THE CHOICE OF COLOUR, which, we would impress 

 upon the mind of the tyro, requires the exercise of a 

 certain amount of judgment ; as what may appear to be 

 the correct thing to look down upon, will in all proba- 

 bility be a glaring departure from the tint required 

 when viewed from underneath. It must ever be re- 

 membered that the fish, from their position below the 

 natural fly and the copy, see through them ; when 

 viewed thus they^will appear, as a general rule, several 



