of the hook is as long as a part of the hook which is bare, pare it fine, wax you silk, and bind it neatly on the remaining bare part of the hook: then fasten the silk tight, and spread some shoemaker's wax very lightly on your last binding: after that clip off the ends of the remaining silk, both at the shank and bend of the hook, and all fibres that start or stand ill-conditioned, and the whole is completed.

This is called the palmer-fly or plain hackle, and may, instead of the ostrich's feather abovementioned, be dubbed with black spaniel's fur, and is a very excellent killer. There are three more palmers, which are all to be made in the same manner as I have laid down, only with different articles, which are as follow:

GREAT PALMER, OR HACKLE.

Dubbed the same as the plain hackle with the strands off an ostrich's feather, or a black spaniel's fur, and warped with red peacock's hackle, untrimmed, that is, leaving the whole length of the hackle staring out (for sometimes the fibres of the hackle are to be shortened all over, sometimes barbed only a little, and sometimes close underneath) leaving the whole length of fibres on the top, or back of the fly, which makes it swim better, and, on a whirling ground water, kills great fish. Your hook for this palmer, No. 5.

GOLDEN PALMER, OR HACKLE.

The same dubbing, ribbed with gold twist, and a red hackle over all.

SILVER HACKLE.

Made with a black body also, silver twist over that, and a red hackle over all.

The variation that is to be observed in making the gold and silver palmer is this, that when you whip the end of the hackle to the bend of the hook, you must also do the same to the gold or silver twist, and first wind either of them on the dubbing, observing that they lie flat on it, and then fasten off; afterwards proceed with the hackle as directed: or you may wind the hackle on the dubbing first, and rib the body with either of the twists afterwards.

These are the standard hackles in fly-fishing, and are taken any month in the year, from nine to eleven in the morning, and from one to three in the evening, and upon any water; though you must have different sizes of them, and dubbed with different colours, that you may always be able to suit either a clear or a dark water, or a bright and cloudy atmosphere; observing, that small light-coloured flies are for clear waters and skies, and the largest for dark and cloudy ones.

These palmers (as I said before) being taken every month in the year, when I come to treat of the flies proper for each month, I shall not take any notice again of the four which I have set down, for that would be totally unnecessary; but the others which deviate in their size and dubbing from the general rule, will be fully expressed.

The angler should always try the palmers first, when he fishes in a river that he is unaccustomed to; and even in that which he constantly uses, without he knows what fly is on the water, and

they should never be changed till he does; the only way to come to the true knowledge of which, he must observe an old-established rule laid down for that purpose; and as it is poetically described by Mr. Gay, I shall give it him in that dress.

Mark well the various seasons of the year,
How the succeeding insect race appear;
In this revolving moon one colour reigns,
Which in the next the fickle trout disdains.
Oft have I seen a skilful angler try

The various colours of the treacherous fly ;
When he with fruitless pain hath skimm❜d the brook,
And the coy fish rejects the skipping hook,"
He shakes the boughs, that on the margin grow,
Which o'er the stream a waving forest throw;
When if an insect fall (his certain guide)
He gently takes him from the whirling tide:
Examines well his form with curious eyes,
His gaudy vest, his wings, his horns, and size;
Then round his hook the chosen fur he winds,
And on the back a speckled feather binds;
So just the colours shine through every part,
That Nature seems to live again in art.

THE BEST METHOD TO MAKE AN ARTIFICIAL FLY NOT A PALMER.

.. First hold your hook fast betwixt the forefinger and thumb of your left hand, with the back of the shank upwards, and the point towards your right hand; then take a strong small silk, of the colour most predominant in the fly you intend to make, wax it well with the wax of the same colour, and draw it between your finger and thumb to the head of the shank, then whip it twice or thrice about the bare hook, which prevent its slipping, and the shank of the hook from cutting the gut: which being done, take your gut and draw it likewise between your fin

ger and thumb, holding the hook so fast as only to suffer it to pass by, till the end of the gut is near the middle of the shank of the hook, on the inside of it; then whip the silk twice or thrice about both gut and hook, as hard as the strength of the silk will permit; after that take the wings, which before you began to make your fly you had stripped off the stem for its wings, and proportional to it, and which lie with your other materials by you, (as they always should before you begin) and place that side downwards which grew uppermost before, upon the back of the hook, leaving so much only, to serve for the length of the wings of the point of the plume, laying it reversed from the end of the shank upwards; then whip your silk twice or thrice about the root-end of the feather, gut, and hook; which being done, clip off the root-end of the feather close by the arming, and then whip the silk fast and firm about the hook and gut till you come to the bend of it; and then, if the gut goes beyond the bend of the hook, cut it off and make all fast: take then the dubbing which is to make the body of your fly, as much as you think will do, and holding it lightly with your hook, between the finger and thumb of your left hand, take the silk with the right, and twisting it between the finger and thumb of that hand, the dubbing will spin itself about the silk, which, when it has done, whip it about the armed hook, till you come to the setting on of the wings: afterwards take the feather for the wings, divide it into two equal parts, and turn them back towards the bend of the hook, the one on the one side, the other on the other side of the shank, holding them fast in that posture, between the forefinger and thumb of your left hand; which being

done, warp them so down as to stand, and slope towards the bend of the hook; and having warped up to the end of the shank, hold the fly fast between the finger and thumb of your left hand, and then take the silk between those of your right, and where the warping ends, pinch or nip it with your thumb-nail against your finger, and strip away the remainder of your dubbing from the silk, which wax again, and then with the silk which is newly waxed and bare, whip it once or twice about, make the wings stand properly, then fasten and cut it off: after which, with the point of a needle, raise up the dubbing gently from the warp, twitch off the superfluous hairs of your dubbing, leave the wings of an equal length, (or your fly will never swim true) and the whole is completed.

In this manner you are to make the Mau-fly, or green drake, and all other flies that are not palmers; the materials to make the green drake are the following: your hook must be No. 5, and you must have the white-grey feather of a mallard for the wings, dyed yellow; the dubbing camel's hair, bright bear's hair, yellow camlet, and the soft down that is combed from the bristles of a hog, well mixed together, the body must be long, and ribbed about with green silk, or rather yellow, waxed with green wax, and three long hairs for his tail, from those off a sable's.

Or, the May-fly may be dubbed after this method. The body of seal's fur, or yellow mohair, a little fox-cub down, and hog's down, or light brown from a turkey carpet, mixed together, warp with green and yellow, pale yellow, or red cock's hackle under the wings, which are to be the same as in the other method of dubbing it.

As I shall not mention the green-drake when I

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