CATCHING BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS 83 



one also for moths, and you will do well to give special attention 

 to well-grown hedges, especially those that surround clover fields ; 

 also overgrown banks, the borders of woods, open spaces in woods, 

 the trunks of isolated trees, gravel pits, and old chalk quarries. 



Walk beside or among the undergrowth of woods, or among the 

 tall herbage of waste places, tapping the branches and twigs with 

 the handle of your net as you go. Then, if yoiu' locality is well 

 selected, yoii will rouse moths to flight at almost every stroke. 

 Some of these will shoot upward among the lofty branches and 

 disappear quite beyond your reach ; others will tly rather low and 

 somewhat heavily, giving j^ou favourable opportunities to try your 

 skill with the net ; others, again, will fly only a j'ard or so, and 

 alight on a neighbouring leaf, often remainmg so quiet that the 

 killing bottle is easily made to inclose them. 



There are moths that show a decided preference for large trees. 

 These may be seen hovering about high branches during the even- 

 ing twilight, and sometimes even in sunshine. In many such 

 cases the chance of a capture seems hopeless, but occasionally one 

 will descend so low that a watchful collector is able to secure it by a 

 sweep of the net. 



If at any time you are in a locality by day where you suspect 

 the presence of certain species of moths at rest among the upper 

 branches of trees, such branches should be beaten if possible to dis- 

 lodge the insects they may shelter. A long stick will often serve 

 this purpose well, and, failing this, a few stones thrown among 

 the branches may prove effectual. In the case of small and rather 

 slender trees, a kick against the trunk will set the whole in vibra- 

 tion sufficient to surprise all the lodgers ; and the same effect may 

 be produced with larger trees by giving each a good sound blow 

 with a mallet or some other suitable implement. 



This or any other plan of ' beating ' for moths is much more 

 conveniently worked by two collectors together than by one alone ; 

 for one engaged in beating the herbage cannot be at the same 

 time fully on the alert with the net. If two persons are together, 

 one may take the lead, armed with the beating stick only, while 

 the other, only very slightly in the rear, is always read\' to 

 strike. 



We have said that butterflies should always be killed in the 

 field, but this plan is not so imiversally adopted with moths. Many 

 collectors carry a large supply of pill boxes when going out for the 

 latter and then take as many as they possibly can by boxing them 



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