PROFESSIONAL FLYCATCHERS 



I see and hear near the nest, fretting at the approach 

 of man or dog, usually feeding only himself. He 

 is almost wholly an insect-eater, and his habit of 

 dropping in the grass for a second from the top 

 twig of a gorse bush or stout plant and capturing 

 beetle or fly reminds one of the butcher-birds by the 

 roadside. 



A small tortoiseshell butterfly flew over the ling ; 

 the stonechat was instantly in pursuit. For a full 

 hundred yards the hunt was hot, the bird several 

 times darting in and strikingly eagerly at the butter- 

 fly, but without success. They passed out of sight, 

 but my belief was that the bird was beaten. The 

 butterfly's wings baulk a pursuing bird. Besides, 

 many butterflies are fully alive to danger, and wary 

 both on the wing and whilst perched and wide-awake. 

 Few English insects have the butterfly's eye for 

 danger and sense to shun it. 



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