Hi,

It was buzzard, but as it was a UK book, this refers to a hawk rather than the North American use for a vulture. Hawk feathers were commonly used in New Zealand fly tying in matuka style patterns, but they are now protected and I don't think you can use the feathers anymore. From what Donald indicated, sounds like that is the case in the UK as well. The hawks in New Zealand are generally brown, with the feathers used in most hawk flies being quite a light ginger. NZ had a range of "hawk" patterns, but I'm not sure how common they were in the UK.


- Jeff