The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-12
MAKING ARTIFICIAL FLIES.
RARE FEATHERS THAT WILL AL
WAYS MAKE THE PRODUCT DEAR
The United States Now Leads All
Countries in Their Manufacture.


| A large seek OF knowledge is required
( by the maker of artificial flies for anglers.
I He must be thoroughly familiar with pat
tiers of flies for all waters and must have
some knowledge Of entomology. and con-
siderable knowledge Of ornithology. From
the former he knows what moths. bugs and
others Insects will appear upon different
waters In different months, and what
changes will take place in these craa-
lures; how they will, after a little time
cast off their skins or shells and appear in
entirely different forms and colors. HIS
knowledge Of ornithology will tell him
what birds will furnish feathers to match
almost exactly the colors of the different
insects he counterfeits. The ordinary
cheap fly maker uses feathers Of turkeys,
pigeons and chickens and few Of the
ducks feathers only; these, together with
a dye pot, form his fun stock in trade.
He pays no attention to natural insects;
his flies contain a cheap hook, some
feathers and SILK or wool, and there, as a
fly, il ends. OF course his products are
called by the names of the popular flies,
but it is sometimes impossible for either
the maker or an angler to recognize when
is which. Not so with the educated am
painstaking fly tier. He takes pride in
his work, makes his goods strong and ser
viceable, and charges accordingly. IL
pride is touched when he hears that any
Of his goods have proved unserviceaDle.
Bird skins and feathers imported from
India and other tropical countries are ex-
pensive. and sometimes very difficult to OBJ
tain For instance, there is a little South
American bird called the light blue chat
terer, two feathers from which are put In
many of the salmon flies. These little
birds are hardly larger than the common
sparrow and are worth from s. to SO each.
The feathers are quoted at retail at
cents each, yet the artistice fly tier uses
these feathers. Then skins of the glgah-
tic argus the feathers from which are
among the most beautiful created, are
quoted at retail at cents each, yet me
artistic fly tier uses these feathers Then
skins of the gigantic argus, the feathers
from which are among the most beauu-
full created, are quoted in Europe to-day
at 500 each and none Is in the market
These birds come from Borneo, Sumatra
and the Malay peninsula. They nave
been practically eXterminated In the lat er
place, and in Borneo the natives auaeh
q religious character to them; consequent
Nv Il is doubtful if these skins will get 10
be much cheaper in the near future An
other rare bird much used in fly tying Is
the fiorican, or light bustard. This bird Is
like the American bison-a thing OF the
past The cheap fly tier never attempts
to use any of these birds, and the few
high-grade manufacturers who have them
in stock guard them jealousy.
Salmon Flies.
Salmon flies are so different from trout
flies that they form a distinct and sepa-
rate class. They are not intended to rep
resent any natural insect. They are SIM
Div an artistic combination Oh coiors
Some are used in England only, some
only In Ireland, others are tried TO at
tract the salmon of Norway, while sun
other patterns are used only in Canadian
and other waters on this continent. Like
trout flies. a few patterns are OF serV-
ice on all waters Some writer's ana an
glers have declared that these mes are
! all or nearly all patterned from living crea-
lures This is a mistake-they are ike
no living thing. John Fitzgibbon. in his
rare little book on salmon fishing, fully
covers the ground when he says: some
tell me that salmon flies are taken Tor
butterflies or for birds by salmon. God
bless my heart! We have no hummlng
birds in this country England or insects
of Cashmere. Look at the gold-hnch n.y.
and in what fairy fields will you find a
bird or insect like that? Look at that
| gorgeous artificial, the shannon, ana tell
me where in this cline of ours, you Will
/ find q living thing possessing Inc tehth
OF a 1.-THE of its brilliancy Yet these spleh-
| did formations of feather, gold and dyed
! fur are especial attractions for the salmon
! of the shannon and the River Erne. Are
| these flies bred on the banks of the river?
! The salmon of other rivers despise them.
/ In Tweed waters the salmon prefer Nu-
/ bian beauty, for instance, the dusty toppy.
! Does the Tweed produce black insects with
wings tipped with white? Further along
he saws: mo man can imagine for an
/ instant that q salmon takes a salmon fly
as being the counterfeit presentment OF
any eort of edible it has ever tasted. 1t
takes it unquestionably for some ami
mated, edible substance; and that is all
l know about the natter
Every one knows that certain fabrics
will change their color to a darker or an
entirely different shade when placed in
water. This is exhibited 10 large ex-
| tent in artificial fixes. Not many anglers
even know that silver tinsel. made up
into a fly, will entirely disappear from
sight under certain circumstances. They
do not have their flies close enough TO
| them, while i'm use, to be able to note
| all the peculiar effects water has upon
them Take the fly called the silver doc
| tor, which has body of bright silver
tlnsel. with a head of red wool at one end
and a butt of the same material at the
other Experiments show that when
drawn through the water the silvery body
| will entirely disappear when the fly
passes from shadow }Eto bright sunlight.
1t is strange to watch this fly, the silver
of which shows so brightly while in the
shadow; when it enters part of the water
Illuminated by the direct rays of the sun
the silver instantly disappears and the
body appears like two disconnected knobs
Of red, which color always shows, either
in sunlight or shadow.
An Opposite Effect.
An opposite effect may be obtained by
| a fly that has wing made from what
| is called a brown mallard feather. This
| feather is plucked from the scapular re-
gion of the wild mallard drake. The out
side is of a beautiful glossy Photographic
| brown and is much used, particularly in
salmon flies. This feather in the shadow
shows as a dark brown, but Immediately
upon the fiy's entering the bright sun-lit
water il changes to a silvery hue. AS
few of these feathers grow on each bird,
| IL is difficult to obtain them in quantities