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 Turnus, 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 



