For the making of a hackle, or palmer-fly, my father Walton has already given you sufficient direction.*

* But, with Mr Cotton's good leave, he has not, nor has any author that I know of, unless we are to take that for a palmer which Walton has given directions for making, part i. p. 108, which I can never do till I see what I have never yet seen, namely, caterpillars with wings. Rejecting, therefore, wings as unnatural and absurd, supposing you would make the plain hackle, or palmer, which are terms of the same import, the method of doing it is as follows, viz.

Hold your hook in a horizontal position, with the shank downwards, and the bent of it between the fore-finger and thumb of your left hand; and, having a fine bristle and other materials lying by you, take half a yard of fine red marking silk, well waxed, and with your right hand give it four or five turns about the shank of the hook, inclining the turns to the right hand when you are near the end of the shank, turn it into such a loop as you are hereafter directed to make for fastening off, and draw it tight, leaving the ends of the silk to hang down at each end of the hook. Having singed the end of your bristle, lay the same along on the inside of the shank of the hook, as low as the bent, and whip four or five times round; then singeing the other end of the bristle to a fit length, turn it over to the back of the shank, and, pinching it into a proper form, whip down and fasten off, as before directed, which will bring both ends of the silk into the bent. After you have waxed your silk again, take three or four strands of an ostrich feather, and holding them and the bent of the hook as at first directed, the feathers to your left hand, and the roots in the bent of your hook, with that end of the silk which you just now waxed, whip them three or four times round, and fasten off: then turning the feathers to the right, and twisting them and the silk with your fore-finger and thumb, wind them round the shank of the hook, still supplying the short strands with new ones, as they fail, till you come to the end, and fasten off. When you have so done, clip off the ends of the feathers, and trim the body of the palmer small at the extremities, and full in the middle, and wax both ends of your silk, which are now divided, and lie at either end of the hook.

Lay your work by you; and, taking a strong bold hackle, with fibres about half an inch long, straighten the stem very carefully, and, holding the small end between the fore-finger and thumb of your left hand, with those of the right stroke the fibres the contrary way to that which they naturally lie; and taking the hook, and holding it as before, lay the point of the hackle into the bent of the hook, with the hollow (which is the palest) side upwards, and whip it very fast to its place: in doing whereof, be careful not to tie in many of the fibres; or, if you should chance to do so, pick them out with the point of a very large needle.

When the hackle is thus made fast, the utmost care and nicety is necessary in winding it on; for if you fail in this, your fly is spoiled, and you must begin all again: to prevent which, keeping the hollow or pale side to your left hand, and, as much as possible, the side of the stem down on the dubbing, wind the hackle twice round; and holding fast what you have so wound, pick out the loose fibres which you may have 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 to 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 off close to the stem, and with the end of your middle 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

MARCH.

For this month you are to use all the same hackles and flies with the other; but you are to make them less.

1. We have, besides, for this month, a little dun, called a whirling dun,* (though it is not the whirling dun indeed, which is one of the best flies we have ;) and for this, the dubbing must be of the bottom fur of a squirrel's tail; and the wing, of the gray feather of a drake.

2. Also a bright brown; the dubbing either of the brown of a spaniel, or that of a red cow's flank, with a gray wing.

3. Also a whitish dun, made of the roots of camel's hair, and the wings, of the gray feather of a mallard.

4. There is also for this month a fly called the thorntree fly; the dubbing, an absolute black, mixed with eight or ten hairs

ends of the silk. Thus you will have made a bait that will catch Trout of the largest size, in any water in England.

It is true, the method above described will require some variation in the case of gold and silver twist palmers; in the making whereof, the management of the twist is to be considered as another operation; but this variation will suggest itself to every reader, as will also the method of making those flies, contained in the notes, that have hackle under the wings; which else we should have added to Cotton's directions for making a fly, which he gives Viator in the fishing-house. See chap. v.

*Great whirling dun. Dub with fox-cub's or squirrel's fur, well mixed with about a sixth part of the finest hog's wool; warp with pale orange wings, very large, taken from the quill feather of a ruddy hen; the head to be fastened with ash-coloured silk; a red cock's hackle, at full length, may be wrapped under the wings, and a turn or two lower towards the tail.

This is a killing fly, and is to be seen rising out of the hedges in most Trout rivers, late in the evening, seldom before sunset, and continues on the water till midnight, or after. It is found in most of the warm months; but kills chiefly in a blustering, warm evening, from the middle of May to the end of July.

The directions of Mr Cotton for making flies are to be considered as the very basis and foundation of that art, no author before him having ever treated the subject so copiously and accurately as he has done: what improvements have been made since his time have been handed about in manuscript lists, but have hardly ever been communicated to the public. A reverend, worthy, and ingenious friend of mine, a lover of angling, who has practised that and the art of fly-making these thirty years, and is the gentleman mentioned in the note, p. 194, has generously communicated to me the result of his many years' experience, in a list of a great number of flies not mentioned by Cotton, with some variations in the manner of making those described in the text. And as to these deviations, it is hoped they will be considered as improvements; since I am authorized to say, that the above gentleman has, in the making of flies, made it a constant rule to follow nature.

Part of this list is, for very obvious reasons, wrought into the form of notes on that of Mr Cotton; and the rest, with another very valuable catalogue, composed by a north country angler, and communicated to me by the same gentleman, make Nos. II. and III. of the Appendix.

The reader will there also find No. IV. a List of Flies, formerly published in the Angler's Vade Mecum, so often referred to in the course of this work : and though the flies therein contained are said to be chiefly of use in stony, I have tried some of them, especially the duns, in other rivers, and found them to be excellent.

of Isabella-coloured * mohair; the body as little as can be made and the wings, of a bright mallard's feather. An admirable fly, and in great repute amongst us for a killer.

5. There is, besides this, another blue dun; † the dubbing of which it is made being thus to be got. Take a small toothcomb, and with it comb the neck of a black grayhound, and the down that sticks in the teeth will be of the finest blue that ever you saw. The wings of this fly can hardly be too white; and he is taken about the tenth of this month, and lasteth till the four-and-twentieth.

6. From the tenth of this month also, till towards the end, is taken a little black gnat. The dubbing, either of the fur of a black water-dog, or the down of a young black water-coot; the wings, of the male of a mallard as white as may be; the body as little as you can possibly make it, and the wings as short as his body.

7. From the sixteenth of this month also to the end of it, we use a bright brown; the dubbing for which is to be had out of a skinner's lime-pits, and of the hair of an abortive calf, which the lime will turn to be so bright, as to shine like gold; for the wings of this fly, the feather of a brown hen is best. Which fly is also taken till the tenth of April.

APRIL.

All the same hackles and flies that were taken in March will be taken in this month also, with this distinction only concerning the flies, that all the browns be lapped with red silk, and the duns with yellow.

Isabella, Spezie di colore che partecipa del bianco e del giallo. Altieri's Dictionary. A kind of whitish yellow, or, as some say, buff colour a little soiled.

How it came by this name will appear from the following anecdote, for which I am obliged to a very ingenious and learned lady. The Archduke Albertus, who had married the Infanta Isabella, daughter of Philip the Second, King of Spain, with whom he had the Low Countries in dowry, in the year 1602, having determined to lay siege to Ostend, then in possession of the heretics, his pious princess, who attended him in that expedition, made a vow that, till it was taken, she would never change her clothes. Contrary to expectation, as the story says, it was three years before the place was reduced, in which time her Highness's linen had acquired the above mentioned hue.

Blue, or violet dun. Dub with the roots of a fox cub's tail, and a very little blue-violet worsted; warp with pale yellow silk; wing, of the pale part of a starling's feather. This fly is taken from eight to eleven, and from one to three.

This fly, which is also called the ash-coloured dun, and blue dun, is produced from a cadis; it is so very small, that the hook, known at the shops by the size No. 9, is full big enough for it, if not too big. The shape of the fly is exactly the same with that of the green drake. So early in the year as February, they will drop on the water before eight in the morning; and Trouts of the largest size, as well as small ones, will rise at them very eagerly,

1. To these a small bright brown, made of a spaniel's fur, with a light gray wing, in a bright day, and a clear water, is very well taken.

2. We have, too, a little* dark brown; the dubbing of that colour, and some violet camlet mixed; and the wing, of the gray feather of a mallard.

3. From the sixth of this month to the tenth, we have also a fly called the violet-fly, made of a dark violet stuff; with the wings of the gray feather of a mallard.

4. About the twelfth of this month comes in a fly called the whirling dun,† which is taken every day, about the mid time of day, all this month through, and, by fits, from thence to the end of June; and is commonly made of the down of a fox-cub, which is of an ash colour at the roots next the skin, and ribbed about with yellow silk; the wings of the pale gray feather of a mallard.

5. There is also a yellow dun: the dubbing of camel's hair, and yellow camlet, or wool, mixed; and a white gray wing.

6. There is also this month another little brown, besides that mentioned before, made with a slender body; the dubbing of dark brown and violet camlet, mixed, and a gray wing; which, though the direction for the making be near the other, is yet another fly, and will take when the other will not, especially in a bright day and a clear water.

7. About the twentieth of this month comes in a fly called the horse-flesh fly; the dubbing of which is a blue mohair, with pink-coloured and red tammy mixed, a light coloured wing, and a dark brown head. This fly is taken best in an evening, and kills from two hours before sunset till twilight, and is taken the month through.

* Dark brown. Dub with the hair of a dark brown spaniel, or calf, that looks ruddy by being exposed to wind and weather; warp with yellow; wing, dark starling's feather. Taken from eight to eleven. This is a good fly, and to be seen in most rivers; but so variable in its hue, as the season advances, that it requires the closest attention to the natural fly to adapt the materials for making it artificially, which is also the case with the violet, or ash coloured dun. When this fly first appears, it is nearly of a chocolate colour, from which, by the middle of May, it has been observed to deviate to almost a lemon colour. Northern anglers call it, by way of eminence, the dark brown; others call it the four-winged brown: it has four wings, lying flat on its back, something longer than the body, which is longish, but not taper. This fly must be made on a smallish hook, namely, No. 8, or 9.

+ Little whirling dun. The body, fox cub, and a little light ruddy brown mixed: warp with gray, or ruddy silk; a red hackle under the wing; wing of a land-rail, or ruddy brown chicken, which is better. This is a killing fly in a blustering day, as the great whirling dun is in the evening, and late at night.

Yellow dun. Dub with a small quantity of pale yellow crewel, mixed with fox-cub down from the tail, and warp with yellow; wing, of a palish starling's feather. Taken from eight to eleven, and from two to four. See more of the yellow dun in the Appendix, No. IV.

MAY.

And now, sir, that we are entering into the month of May, I think it requisite to beg not only your attention, but also your best patience, for I must now be a little tedious with you, and dwell upon this month longer than ordinary, which, that you may the better endure, I must tell you, this month deserves and requires to be insisted on, forasmuch as it alone, and the next following, afford more pleasure to the fly angler than all the rest; and here it is that you are to expect an account of the green-drake and stone-fly, promised you so long ago, and some others that are peculiar to this month, and part of the month following, and that, though not so great either in bulk or name, do yet stand in competition with the two before named, and so that it is yet undecided amongst the anglers to which of the pretenders to the title of the May-fly it does properly and duly belong. Neither dare I, where so many of the learned in this art of angling are got in dispute about the controversy, take upon me to determine; but I think I ought to have a vote amongst them, and, according to that privilege, shall give you my free opinion, and, peradventure, when I have told you all, you may incline to think me in the right.

Viator. I have so great a deference to your judgment in these matters, that I must always be of your opinion; and the more you speak, the faster I grow to my attention, for I can never be weary of hearing you upon this subject.

Piscator. Why, that 's encouragement enough: and now, prepare yourself for a tedious lecture; but I will first begin with the flies of less esteem, (though almost any thing will take a Trout in May,) that I may afterwards insist the longer upon those of greater note and reputation. Know, therefore, that the first fly we take notice of in this month, is called

1. The turkey-fly; the dubbing ravelled out of some blue stuff, and lapped about with yellow silk; the wings of a gray mallard's feather.

2. Next, a great hackle, or palmer-fly, with a yellow body, ribbed with gold twist, and large wings, of mallard's feather dyed yellow, with a red capon's hackle over all.

3. Then a black fly; the dubbing of a black spaniel's fur, and the wings of a gray mallard's feather.

4. After that, a light brown, with a slender body; the dubbing twirled upon small red silk, and raised with the point of a needle, that the ribs, or rows of silk, may appear through the wings of the gray feather of a mallard.

5. Next, a little dun; the dubbing of a bear's dun whirled upon yellow silk; the wings, of the gray feather of a mallard.