GENERAL SALMON FLIES 251 



the bright red breast feather of Indian crow and a topping ; 

 butt, two turns of black ostrich ; body, two or three turns of 

 golden floss, ditto of bright fiery-red pig's wool, and the 

 remainder of the body of black ; silver tinsel and twist ;! very 

 dark blue hackle, extending from the red mohair ; black 

 hackle at shoulder ; wing, a pair of long jungle cock feathers, 

 a trifle longer than the hook; doubled* tippet feathers over 

 them ; topping over all, blue macaw ribs, and kingfisher at the 

 cheeks. Plate XVIII, Fig. i.) 



The Blue Ranger. Tag, silver twist and gold-coloured floss ; 

 tail as before; butt, black ostrich; body, gold-coloured floss 

 and fiery-red wool as before ; light blue pig wool for the rest of 

 the body ; blue hackle, a shade darker from almost the middle 

 of the wool to the shoulder, gallina hackle over ; silver tinsel 

 and twist ; wing, a pair of tippets ; double jungle cock over 

 them ;'<j topping over all ; black head. Both these flies, as 

 regards size, to follow the colonel's lead. We will now leave 

 the military and go into the church. 



The Parson. This is a very showy fly, and is used chiefly 

 on the Erne, but it is a capital fly anywhere where a showy fly 

 is required. It is on the Erne rather a generic name for a 

 series of flies than for any special one, as we have there, green 

 parsons, and blue parsons, and golden parsons, and so on. The 

 parson being merely significant of plenty of toppings in the 

 wing. The Golden Parson, however, is my idea of the fly, and 

 this I will describe. 



Tag, silver tinsel and mauve floss ; tail, two toppings, a 

 few sprigs of tippet and a kingfisher ; body, two turns of golden 

 floss silk, then golden pig's wool, merging into orange ; golden 

 orange hackle over the wool, red orange hackle over that, and 

 two or three or more short toppings tied in at the breast, 

 instead of shoulder hackle ; wing, a tippet feather with a cock 

 of the rock (not the squared feather) on either side, and one 

 above, strips of pintail or wood duck on either side, and as 

 many toppings as you can pile on seven or eight or more if 

 you like. These are often tied on with the turn bent inwards at 

 Ballyshannon, and it gives them more play in the water. 

 Kingfisher's feathers on either cheek, and blue macaw ribs ; 

 black head. This, however, is decidedly a topping parson, a 

 sort of bishop or archbishop parson, in fact, and not for every- 

 day use ; we only bring him out when the feelings of the 



* Doubled feathers mean where a short feather is laid on over and beside 

 a long one of the same kind. F. F. 



