Materials
This section will be about mainly feathers that was used in the classic patterns. I am very interested in the materials that originally was used in the Victorian era, though most of them are hard to obtain nowadays. Thanks to distributors as Jens Pilgaard, Ken Sawada and John McLain some of these materials are available for us fly tiers. The materials shown here are some that might be hard to obtain, if ever available again.. Most of the hard-to-get materials comes from old collections from Victorian era, so when there are no more, then that’s it.
Note: All the paintings (and drawings) are all my work.
.:.
WESTERN TRAGOPAN
(Tragopan melanocephalus)
The rarest of all pheasants and tragopans. Western tragopan is most known for being used in the Black Argus by J. P. Traherne, where the white spotted body feathers are used in the wing. The red throat feathers was used in a Tolfrey fly and as the tail material for the mysterious ghost fly (Blacker?). Today it’s almost impossible to get hand on western tragopan feathers. Some collectors might got a few old feathers, most from old mounts. The bird is on CITES list (appendix I). The best substitute available is Jens Pilgaard’s dyed substitute, that looks almost exact same as the real thing. The throat feathers are easily subbed by golden pheasant crest dyed hot orange on the tip.
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KORI BUSTARD 
(Ardeotis kori)
The speckled shoulder feathers are used in most of the classic flies as wing material. Kori bustard are hard to get, but not impossible, although the prices are very high when buying feathers of good quality.
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GUIANAN COCK OF THE ROCK
(Rupicola rupicola)
Cock of the rock was used in few patterns like the Orange Parson. Kelson listed a few patterns that had cock of the Rock in them. William Blacker used the crest feathers as veiling material in the body of the Beautiful Specimen of a Gaudy fly. One of possibly Blacker’s mysterious ghost fly also have crest feathers used as veiling.
I was lucky to get this specimen from a collector, they are usually hard to get, but it can easily be subbed with dyed hen hackle that are a little fluffy.
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BLUE CHATTER
(Cotinga cayana)
Blue chatter was normally used as cheeks and veilings for both body and tail. The bird is not listed on any CITES list, but is though very hard to obtain. The price for the body feathers goes high because of the limited availability since most feathers come from old mounts. The electric blue color of cotinga cayana’s body feathers is easy to recognize, and that’s my favorite cotinga that I prefer to use for those patterns that require chatterers.
lkksjfjsnljgsnl fhsljnhflsj fhsdlnfls fshlfhshf fhshfnsfnlfbf jfshnfosh hf oushfuohsf sufh uos hfuoh sfuo hsfuo shofu uoshfbb sf shu fushf usofh s fuhf ush fu fhsou fusfh ouh fso fsohs fo fhusoh foush fuosf fhuoshf uosh fous sfh us fhuhs f hsuf uoshf us fhushf ush fushf fuhsufh oa jfb sofh suof .
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INDIAN CROW/RED-RUFFED FRUIT CROW
(Pyroderus scutatus)
Indian crow is used the same way as blue chatter, though it’s more common to use indian crow in the tail rather as cheeks. Indian crow is as many other exotic materials quite hard to find. The feathers and mounts that are available are mostly from old collections and museums. There are a few sub species of indian crow, most common was the Pyroderus scutatus granadensis, but because of th sub species’ rareness, the sub species Pyroderus scutatus scutatus is the one that are most used today in classic flies.
lkksjfjsnljgsnl fhsljnhflsj fhsdlnfls fshlfhshf fhshfnsfnlfbf jfshnfosh hf oushfuohsf sufh uos hfuoh sfuo hsfuo shofu uoshfbb sf shu fushf usofh s fuhf ush fu fhsou fusfh ouh fso fsohs fo fhusoh foush fuosf fhuoshf uosh fous sfh us fhuhs f hsuf uoshf us fhushf ush fushf fuhsufh oa jfb sofh suof .
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GUINEA TOURACO
(Taurao persa)
Touraco is rarely used in classic salmon fly patterns, but there are a few patterns that requires the scarlet colored wing feathers, as the Emperor (Kelson). Kelson also mention that it can be used as ibis substitut, but I think the color is not the same. It’s a special materials that are very unusual, and the red-ish color turn into purple when the surface of the feather structure reflect the light.