278 SALMON AND TROUT. 
—of every size, build, and colour. Indeed, as I ranged from 
case to case trying to form my own estimate of comparative 
merits, I felt tempted to exclaim with Diogenes at the fair, 
‘What a multitude of things are here of which I have no need.’ 
_ Still the beauty, the delicacy, and in many cases the imitative 
skill of the work rendered the show very attractive. 
Another source of interest in a well-tied fly, and notably in 
the very smallest, is its extraordinary strength and durability 
considering the materials employed. An angler must no doubt 
have tied many a score of flies for himself ere he can fully 
appreciate this excellence. In a case of flies set up for show it 
is assumed rather than proved to exist ; but we may be sure 
that the exhibitor did not attain his reputation for such ‘ marvel- 
lous delicate ware ’"—as Queen Bess said of her first silk stock- 
ings—without producing an article capable of resisting both the 
strain of a good fish fighting for his life, and the repeated - 
grinding and chewing of tiny teeth. 
To build a salmon fly strongly is comparatively easy. There 
is ample room and verge enough for the firmest lapping of the 
hook to the gut, and for the tying-on in due succession of the 
various materials which form the body, legs, and wings of the 
highly composite insect, while the loop at the head, which was 
almost unknown in my boyhood, gives the needful strength at 
the point where the friction is greatest. But when we look at a 
tiny olive-dun or quill-gnat, such as often plays havoc among 
the heavy trout of our best chalk streams, we may well marvel 
at the skill which has made a few turns of fine silk not only 
join hook to gut indissolubly, but bind minute portions of 
various material together in a firm and shapely whole. 
A trout fly, be it remembered, needs above all things to be 
strong. Neatness and finish may often be dispensed with, if 
the colours be only right, but strength is indispensable. With- 
out it, the more attractive the lure, the more grievous will be. 
the angler’s disappointment. The points which are naturally 
weakest in the fly ought to be especially looked to. Judging: 
from my own experience, I should say that four fish are lost from. 
