FIVE DAYS ON MOUNT MANSFIELD. 105 
through the forests with a strong and steady 
flight. Many a time have I taken a second 
look at one, as it has threaded the treetops 
over my head, thinking to see a bird. Be- 
sides the Zurnus, I noted here the nettle 
tortoise-shell butterfly (Vanessa Milberti — 
a showy insect, and the more attractive to 
me as being comparatively a stranger); the 
common cabbage butterfly; the yellow Phil- 
odice ; the copper; and, much more abun- 
dant than any of these, a large orange-red 
fritillary (Aphrodite, I suppose), gorgeously 
bedecked with spots of silver on the under 
surface of the wings. All these evidently 
knew that plenty of flowers were to be found 
along this seemingly barren, rocky crest. 
Whether they have any less sensuous motive 
for loving to wander over such heights, who 
will presume to determine? It may very 
well be that their almost ethereal structure 
—such spread of wing with such lightness 
of body —is only the outward sign of gra- 
cious thoughts and feelings, of a sensitive- 
ness to beauty far surpassing anything of 
which we ourselves are capable. What a 
contrast between them and the grub gnawing 
ceaselessly under the spruce-tree bark! Can 
