THE ART OF FLY-MAKING. 599 



tinsel ; and it malces a better looking fly to wrap tlie hackle much 

 more closely on getting up under the wings ; making it a little 

 more " buz " as it is frequently termed. A fly is said to be buz 

 when the hackle is wrapped on thick and it looks " bushy ' as 

 we Americans would term it. 



Some makers use two or three half-hitches in finishing off at 

 the head. The invisible knot is as easily tied and much more 

 secure. 



Let me describe as briefly and as plainly as I can the proper 

 mode of using a pair of scissors. They should be such as I have 

 described. Do not put your finger and thumb into the bows or 

 oval openings, but lay that part of the implement in the palm of 

 your hand and vvith the thumb and fingers work the blades. A 

 little practice in this way will enable one to pick out and clip off a 

 single fibre of the hackle or wing with great nicety. 



I now introduce a plate of four salmon flies, (three of them 

 copied from Blacker's "Book of the Salmon,") in order to show 

 what are " feelers," and " toppings," and " loops," and " heads and 

 shoulders," and " tags" and so on. We scarcely ever use a more 

 elaborate salmon fly than the second, for the waters of the Domin- 

 ion, and a Shannon fly or one of Whitney's flies tied for the Maine 

 waters, the " Toodlebug," for instance, or one of my own mixed 

 wings made for the same waters, unless the river was very high, 

 would scare all the Nipisiquit or Cascapediac or Restigouche sal- 

 mon out of a pool. A knowledge of the technical names of the , 

 minor appurtenances of a salmon fly is not essential to one who 

 plies his seventeen foot withe, or scarcely to one who makes his 

 own flies for American rivers, but to be thorough we must name 

 all the little adjuncts and accessories. 



I will therefore call the reader's close attention to the third fig- 

 ure. The tail is what is usually called a " topping," i. e. feather 

 from the crest of the golden pheasant. The body is wrapped with 

 floss silk, ribbed with gold twist, i. e. stout gold thread, which is 

 followed by a hackle almost to the head where, as will be observed, 

 another feather is tied on, a blue jay, for what is termed a " shoul- 

 der." There is a mixed wing of golden pheasant neck, teal, guinea 

 hen, and light brown turkey, with a topping much longer than the 

 tail surmounting the wing. The head is of black ostrich herl. 



