284 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



The Murray. Tag, silver twist ; tail, yellow pig's wool ; 

 butt, black ostrich ; body, darkish red claret ; hackle the same ; 

 silver tinsel ; gallina at shoulder ; speckled dun turkey wings 

 two strips (that with the light edge to the extreme tip of the 

 feather being preferred). 



The patterns of the above four flies were furnished to me 

 by Mr. Paton of Perth, the great obeah-man of angling 

 mysteries in that district, and a first-rate artificer of all 

 sporting requisites. Any angler going to the Tay will scarcely 

 fail to look in on him for a chat and advice. 



The Wasp (Blue). Tag, silver twist ; tail, tippet and red 

 mohair ; butt, black ostrich ; body, about two-fifths yellow 

 pig's wool and three-fifths darkish blue pig's wool ; silver 

 tinsel ; medium blue hackle (only over blue wool), black 

 hackle at shoulder ; peacock head ; wing, two strips of dun 

 (speckled) turkey. It is sometimes the fashion, when the 

 fibres cannot be obtained long enough for the required wing, 

 to tie double wings of shortish fibre, that is, there is the usual 

 pair at the shoulder and another pair tied on half-way down 

 the back, as previously noted by Mr. Maxwell. They have 

 also another dodge on the Tay to make a long-fibred wing. 

 They take a strand of gut of the required length, strip the 

 fibres off feathers, and lap them neatly along on the gut so 

 that the gut shall form a sort of artificial quill. Gallina looks 

 very well so, and answers for the small silver-grey mottled 

 turkey, which is scarce. 



The Wasp (Claret). Tag, silver twist ; tail, gallina and 

 mallard; butt, black ostrich; body, olive-yellow pig's wool 

 one-third, two turns of medium claret ditto, and the rest of 

 medium blue ditto ; silver tinsel ; hackle, medium red claret ; 

 gallina at shoulder ; silver grey speckled turkey wing ; pea- 

 cock head. There is another pattern of wasp with black 

 upper half to the body, mixed wing, and peacock's breast 

 feather for shoulder hackle. 



I have here given half a dozen of the best known Tay flies, 

 but the variety is endless, almost any arrangement of wool, 

 hackle, and tinsel doing for the bodies at times, in which blue, 

 claret, and yellow are the principal admixtures. The wings 

 are of various shades of turkey for the most part, the lightly 

 speckled reddish brown, with the faint white tip, as I have 

 said, being the favourite. 



I add a few patterns sent me by my friend Mr. William 

 James Davidson of Glasgow, many years a frequenter of the 



