THE TROUT. 



113 



taken in, and make another turn; then lay hold of the hackle 

 with the third and fourth fingers of your left hand, with which 

 you may extend it while you disengage the loose fibres as 

 before. 



" In this manner proceed till you come within an eighth 

 of an inch of the end of the shank, where you will find an 

 end of silk hanging, and by which time you will find the 

 fibres at the great end of the hackle something discomposed ; 

 clip these oft' close to the stem, and with the end of your mid- 

 dle finger press the stem close to the hook, while with the 

 fore-finger of your right hand, you turn the silk into a loop ; 

 which when you have twice put over the end of the shank of 

 the hook, loop and all, your work is safe. 



" Then wax that end of the silk which you now used, and 

 turn it over as before, till you have taken up nearly all that 

 remained of the hook, observing to lay the turns neatly side 

 by side; and lastly clip off the ends of the silk." 



On making the Palmer or Hack7e-Fly, with the code's or 

 hen's feathers, Hofland remarks, " is simply as described in 

 the fore-named methods, (pages 110 and 111,) by twisting on 

 the legs and body, taking care that the hackle has fibres as 

 long as, or rather longer than, the hook it is to be twisted 

 upon. 



" But in making hackle-flies with birds' feathers, such as 

 those of the snipe, dotteril, &c., the feather is prepared by 

 stripping off the superfluous parts at the butt-end, then draw- 

 ing back a sufficient quantity of fibre to make the fly ; take 

 the feather by the root and point, with both hands, (having 

 its outside uppermost,) and put the whole of the fibres into 

 your mouth, and wet them, that they adhere together back 

 to back. When the gut is fastened to the hook, you must tie 

 on the feather near to the head of the hook, and the feather 

 may be tied either at the butt-end or point; then twist the 

 feather twice or thrice round the hook, and fasten it by one 





