Body. Bright green peacock herle, ribbed with silver tinsel.
Hackle, Wings and Hook. Same as Blue-bottle. (Illustrated [Plate II].)
House-fly
There are many small Diptera which frequent the water side, which to the ordinary eye are apparently House-flies. They resemble them so closely, in fact, that many could not be discriminated from them except by an entomologist.
I have, therefore, ventured to put them all under the heading of “House-fly.” The only difference which will ever have to be made in the dressing given below is in the body, and very rarely in the hackle; but these modifications must be left to the fisherman, who must judge for himself according to the flies he finds by the water.
I do not remember ever having met a fisherman who had used an artificial House-fly for trout. Trout however do feed on them; and in this case I can bring other evidence than my own.
Ronalds describes an experiment he made in order to test the trout’s power of taste; and in this experiment he used House-flies, to which he applied various condiments, including red pepper. Though his object was not to prove that trout fed readily on House-flies, I think he proved that they did so.
Probably the commonest of these small Diptera which is to be found by the water is Musca corvina, Fab., which is the country cousin of our well-known House-fly, though, indeed, many of the flies which frequent our houses are not the true House-fly (Musca domestica). The male Musca corvina, whose portrait is given on Plate I., has a body which appears to consist of alternate stripes of yellow and brown. The female, however, has a uniformly dark body. Of the other flies, very similar in appearance to House-flies, the bodies vary in colour; but if made of a yellowish or dull brown, sometimes ribbed, it will generally prove like enough to nature, to deceive the trout.
Body. Yellow ochre-coloured Berlin wool, spun on black silk. Ribbed with silver tinsel and dark brown according to circumstances. (The exact shade is easy to see on the under surface of the natural fly. The under surface of the fly is the surface seen by the trout.)
Hackle. Coch-y-bondhu.