BREPHIDES. 551 



even over the trees, often descending lower to near the 

 ground; sometimes also attracted by a bush of blooming 

 sallow, or even occasionally enticed to settle quite down at 

 the wet margin of a boggy or sandy pool, and there imbibe 

 the moisture, raising its wings and turning about. Major 

 Ficklin has seen it go for this purpose quite into the shallow 

 water and sandy mud. This even seems to be the case some- 

 times in damp wood paths, or it will occasionally bask in 

 the sun upon the ground or on a fence. If a cloud comes 

 over it settles down at once on a birch twig, clasping it closely 

 with steeply inclined wings. The female sits in the same 

 manner and is hardly ever seen to fly, but looks precisely 

 like an old dead leaf twisted round a twig. Thus it is very 

 difficult to discover, and is more likely to be obtained by 

 beating the trees than by examining them. The capture of 

 a female, however, with judicious management will some- 

 times bring plenty of males within reach. These last when 

 Hying are full of dodges, dashing upward, downward, espe- 

 cially backward, to escape when pursued, and it is particu- 

 larly exasperating, when one makes a rush in pursuit of a 

 specimen which has flown rather low, to find suddenly that 

 it has turned behind its pursuer, and is making 'off safely in 

 the opposite direction. Its favourite haunts are boggy heaths 

 where birch grows freely, and in such places, as well as along 

 the edges of birch woods, it may often be seen flying in abund- 

 ance in the sunshine at a safe height, on the side of the trees 

 most sheltered from the wind. Plentiful in such suitable 

 places in Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Hants. Berks ; Savernake 

 Forest, Wilts ; and found in Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, 

 Middlesex, Hunts, Cambs, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk; Sher- 

 wood Forest, Notts ; and very locally in Warwickshire, 

 Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Worcestershire, Cheshire, Lanca- 

 shire, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, but apparently not 

 noticed further north in England. In Wales it is recorded 

 in Glamorganshire, but must surely exist in many other 

 parts. In Scotland it has been found in Aberdeenshire and 



