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THE THAW BUTTERFLIES 



January igth 



*J& ^^ "J anuarv thaw" does not always arrive or- 

 schedule time. It may come in late December,. 

 or not until February. Even though there are no- 

 icicles to melt and drip at the eaves, and no snow to- 

 slide in mimic avalanche from the steaming roofs, we 

 may know of the thaw's impending arrival by the 

 appearance of its butterfly heralds. 

 Nor is it necessary that the thaw 

 should be a general condition of 

 the weather. I have known a 

 sunny, sheltered nook on the south- 

 side of the barn to have a little thaw all by itself. 



The poet sings pathetically of the fate of the butter- 

 fly on the approach of winter : 



"Dying when fair things are fading away;" 



and in the general truth he is correct. But did he know 

 that we have a whole brood of butterflies for which the 

 cold has no terrors, and which always tide over the win- 

 ter to enjoy the "fair things" of another spring? The- 

 well-known "yellow edge," or Antiopa butterfly, else- 

 where alluded to in these pages, is of this hardy tribe,. 

 and perhaps the best known among them. 



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