FLY-CASTING. Of the three main methods of angling. casting the fly is the most scientific and universal. lts devotees are divided into two sehools—the old-time or 'wet-fly' anglers, who whip the stream with a east of flies, and shift from place to place; and a new school of 'dry fly' anglers, so called because they me but one very small fly on their line. and that constructed with upright wings, so that when it drops on the water it remains dry and natural, and the angler, remaining stationary, waits for the rise.
Both schools use in common a light, elastic, three jointed rod, from 9 to 10 feet long, varying in weight according to the skill of the angler or the use to which it is to be put, from ounces upward. The line for trout is of waterproof silk, braided, of size F or G (the heavier being more easily cast) ; at the end of the line is attached a leader, made of single strands of clean, round, silkworm gut ; to this is tied the fly, or two or three, according to the method of the angler. Leaders may be stained a neutral tint by soaking in a strong solution of green tea and kept be tween layers of damp felt. Before use soften again in water, or the gut may crack and become worthless. Beneath the rod, at the extreme end of the butt, should be fixed a steel-pivoted, single action click reel. Casting the fly involves many intricate movements, to be perfected only by long practice. See FISHING; SALMON-FISHING; TROUT FISHING.
(I) A name given to vari ous birds of the order Passeres, but orignally ap plied to those of the thrush-like family Muscica pithe, having a moderately long, angular bill, broad and depressed at the base, compressed and slightly curved at the point ; the base surrounded with stiff' hairs or bristles directed forward, which help to secure insect prey. The legs and feet arc small; the outer toe the longest, and at tached to the middle one as far as the first joint. The wings are not long; their first quill-feather is very short; the third is the longest. The birds of this family, as now restricted, are ex clusively confined to the Old World, and mostly to the warmer parts of it. The true flycatchers all have the habit of remaining perched for a long time in the same spot, only leaving it to make a sudden dart at a passing insect, which is seized with a snap of the hill, and then re turning. They arc almost never to be seen run ning on the ground, or even on the branches of trees, and do not chase insects in the air like swallows. Even in the restricted use of the name the Aluseicapidle include about 400 species, ar ranged in nearly 60 genera. Only four species are European, two of which are British—the spotted fly-catcher (11useicapa grisata) and the pied fly-catcher (Museicapa atricapilla)— birds about the size of a sparrow, the former of which is common in most parts of England as a summer bird of passage, but rare in Scotland; the latter is rare in Great Britain. although
abundant in the south of Europe. The spotted flycatcher is brownish-gray above, white beneath, the head and breast marked with dusky spots. Its call is a mere chirp. It is remarkable for the choice it makes of situations for its nest, often on a beam in an outhouse, on the side of a faggot stack, on the branch of a tree trained against a building, and sometimes even on a lamp-post in a street. It has been observed that a single pair of spotted fly-eatehers feed their young no fewer than 537 times in one day, and that their motions are so rapid that, to count the number of visits accurately, the observer must not take his eve off the nest for a moment..
(2) The name flycatcher is often extended to birds of similar habits belonging to other families. In America the name is universally applied to the birds of the family Tyrannithe, often styled `tyrant Ily-eatehers."Chis family is peculiar to America. and contains some 350 species, of which about one-tenth occur in the United States. They are more or less solitary and sedentary in their habits, and feed like the true Ily-eatehers. The shape of the wings and tail enables these birds to twist and turn in the air with remarkable agility and grace. The tly-catchers, being entire ly insectivorous, are necessarily migratory in most parts of the United States. They have no power of song, but their notes are characteristic, and in some species not unmusical. The colors are generally dull, though sonic of the tropical forms offer striking Aiming the nu merous remarkable birds of this family can be mentioned only a few genera : Tyrammlus, no table for the diminutive size, the type species being less than three inches long; it is found in northern South America. Todirstrui», small, very brightly colored South American species, with a bill like that of a tody (q.v.). Fluvi•ola, small black and white birds of the South Ameri can pampas, called water-caps, because of their fondness for water. Pitangus, the large derby fly-catchers of Mexico, nearly a foot long. Nil. vulus, the graceful and striking swallow-tailed fly-catchers, in which the tail is very long and deeply forked, as in the barn-swallow; they are found in tropical America. but one species is common in the Southern United States, especially Texas. Among the common fly-catehers of the eastern United States may be mentioned the kingbird (q.v.) ; the least fly-catcher (Eispidonax minimus), called 'cliebee,' from its characteristic note; the small green Acadian and Traill's fly catcher, or 'pewees'; the olive-sided 11y-catcher (Contopus borealis), a very solitary but noisy woodland species nowhere very common; and the great-crested fly-catcher (llyiarehus crinitus), handsome woodland species with a loud and very characteristic note. See also KING-BIRD; PEWEE:: PlIC?BE-BIRD; Plate of FLY-CATCHERS; Plate of EGGS OF SONG-BIRDS.