THE LARGE HEATH BUTTERFLY 



woodcraft so masterful, once it lays hold of us, as 

 that of watching the ways of small bird or butterfly 

 in minute detail ; and this is the place to watch 

 the large heath butterflies. In spite of rain and 

 gloom, they are still on the wing when the sun 

 comes out, disappearing directly the day clouds 

 over. The large heath is sure to be quoted as an 

 illustration of protection by colour and marking. 

 When this butterfly settles on the coppice ground 

 amid the litter of dead leaves and dead twigs, and 

 various small plants which have lost their fresh 

 green, it is unnoticeable. Like all the other 

 ^butterflies I have spoken of, when it perches for 

 rest it presses back and downward the upper pair 

 of wings so that only the under sides of the two 

 under wings, folded vertically above the back, are 

 exposed. Its form becomes that of a small scalene 

 triangle. The colours of these exposed wings are 

 browns and greys of sorts, and the bands, or 

 marblings, are nondescript. The effect of the 

 whole is obscurity. A drab thing is the heath in 

 repose ; so featureless, it seems made to be over- 

 looked. And we do overlook it : I overlooked 

 it for years. We expect either gay colouring or 

 curious and intricate marks on the butterfly's wing. 

 Here we have neither. 



Looking curiously into the matter, I cannot see 

 that Nature has made the large heath in repose 

 really like its surroundings. After all, the ordinary 

 perch of this butterfly is not the ground littered by 

 dry, dead leaves of brown and grey. Along the 



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