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 light 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 lapt with red silk, and the duns with yellow.

1. To these a SMALL BRIGHT BROWN, made of spaniel's fur, with a light-grey wing, in a bright day, and a clear water, is very well taken.

2. We have, too, a little1 DARK BROWN; the dubbing of that colour, and some violet camlet mixt; and the wing of a grey 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 grey feather of a mallard.

4. About the twelfth of this month comes in the fly called the WHIRLING-DUN,2 which is taken

every day,

(1) 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, viz. No. 8, or 9.

(2) Little Whirling-Dun. The body fox-cub, and a little light ruddy-brown mixed: warp with grey 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.

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 the 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 grey feather of a mallard.

5. There is also a YELLOW DUN,' the dubbing of camel's hair, and yellow camlet or wool, mixt, and a white grey wing.

6. There is also this month another LITTLE BROWN, besides that mentioned before, made with a very slender body; the dubbing of dark brown and violet camlet, mixt, and a grey 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 mixt, a light coloured wing, and a dark brown head. This fly is taken best in an evening, and kills from two hours before sun-set till twilight, and is taken the month through.

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

(1) 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.

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.

Viat. 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.

Pisc. 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 lapt about with yellow silk, the wings of a grey-mallard's feather.

2. Next, a GREAT HACKLE, or PALMER-FLY; with a yellow body, ribbed with gold-twist, and large wings of a mallard's feather dyed yellow, with a red capon's hackle over all.

Y

3. Then a BLACK FLY; the dubbing of a black spaniel's fur, and the wings, of a grey 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 grey feather of a mallard.

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

6. Then a WHITE GNAT, with a pale wing, and a black head.

7. There is also in this month a fly called the PEACOCK-FLY, the body made of a whirl of a peacock's feather, with a red head, and wings of a mallard's feather.

8. We have then another very killing fly, known by the name of the DUN-CUT;1 the dubbing of which is a bear's dun, with a little blue and yellow mixt with it, a large dun wing, and two horns at the head, made of the hairs of a squirrel's tail.

9. The next is a Cow-LADY, a little fly, the body of a peacock's feather, the wing of a red feather, or strips of the red hackle of a cock.

10. We have then the Cow-DUNG-FLY; the dubbing light brown and yellow mixt; the wing, the dark grey feather of a mallard. And note, that besides these abovementioned, all the same hackles and flies, the hackles only brighter, and the flies smaller, that are taken in April, will also be taken this month, as all Browns and Duns: and now I come, to my Stone-fly and Green-drake, which are the matadores for Trout and Grayling, and in their

(1) Dun-Cut. Dub with bear's-cub fur, and a little yellow and green crewel, warp with yellow or green: wing, of a land-rail. Towards the evening of a showery day this is a great killer.

season kill more fish in our Derbyshire rivers, than all the rest, past and to come, in the whole year besides.

But first I am to tell you, that we have four several flies which contend for the title of the May-fly, namely, the GREEN-DRAKE; the STONE-FLY; the BLACK-FLY; and the LITTLE YELLOW MAY-FLY.

And all these have their champions and advocates to dispute and plead their priority; though I do not understand why the two last-named should; the first two having so manifestly the advantage, both in their beauty and the wonderful execution they do in their season.

11. Of these the GREEN-DRAKE comes in about the twentieth of this month, or betwixt that and the latter end, (for they are sometimes sooner, and sometimes later, according to the quality of the year,) but never well taken till towards the end of this month, and the beginning of June. The STONE-FLY comes much sooner, so early as the middle of April, but is never well taken till towards the middle of May, and continues to kill much longer than the Green-drake stays with us, so long as to the end almost of June; and, indeed, so long as there are any of them to be seen upon the water; and sometimes in an artificial fly, and late at night, or before sunrise in a morning, longer.

Now both these flies, and I believe many others, though I think not all, are certainly and demonstratively bred in the very rivers where they are taken; our cadis or codbait, which lie under stones at the bottom of the water, most of them turning into those two flies, and being gathered in the husk, or crust, near the time of their maturity, are very easily known and distinguished, and are of all other the most remarkable, both for their size, as being of all other the biggest, (the shortest of them being a full inch long or more,) and for the execution they do, the Trout and Grayling, being much more greedy