THE WINTER MOTH. 



455 



day may be seen flitting along the hedges in perfect content, 

 even though the ground be thickly covered with snow. 



The^emale, though really the more important of the two, is 

 seldom noticed. Her wings are mere rudiments, and she is 

 unable to fly. She only appears at night, when she crawls up 

 the stems of trees for the purpose of depositing her eggs upon 

 them. When the little caterpillars are hatched, they make 

 their way to the unopened buds, and burrow into them, thus 



1. Cheimatobia briimata. 2. Oporabia dilatata. 3. Mflanippe hastata. 



4. Melanippe montana. 5. Mclanthia albicillata. 



at the same time concealing themselves from sight, and doing 

 all the harm of which so tiny a creature is capable. It is in 

 search of these caterpillars that the small birds, more espe 

 cially tlie bulltinch and chaffinch, pick off and devour the 

 buds of fruit-trees. It is true that they do not restrict them- 

 selves to those buds which contain caterpillars, but that tliey 

 act rather at random, picking off a bud first, and afterwards 



