Yes interesting about the old hen hackles Donald. I was always taught that the Yorkshire Spiders should be tied with as few turns of hackle as possible. Some of those I have seen have just one or at most one and a half turns, so they need a really stiff and mobile hackle.

I will attempt to get a copy of that book from the library. Sounds like interesting reading. I also enjoyed reading the bits from your website.

I would still urge David though to buy a skin. I am sure he can find one at a much better price than his original quote. He will not be dissapointed. Partridge are lovely feathers and so useful in all sorts of flies. They make excellent legs if tying copies of natural insects.