BUTTERFLIES, MOTHS AND CICADAS 207 



It knew nothing of its colours and was quite satisfied 

 when it settled on a stone. Similarly have I seen a 

 Boarmia alight on a portion of a tree where the inner 

 wood had been exposed by the woodcutters ; but the 

 moth did not appreciate the fact that its dark wings were 

 highly conspicuous against the white and splintered 

 wood ; its instinct was to alight on wood ; it had 

 satisfied that instinct and seemed contented with its 

 choice. These moths know nothing of their wonderful 

 protective scheme. Instinct tells one that it must 

 spread itself against a stone, another that it must seek 

 the trunk of a tree, but as to why it should do so it 

 knows no more than why it unfolds itself from a grub. 



Protective coloration is developed to a much higher 

 degree in moths than in butterflies ; and the reason of 

 this is very obvious to any one who has taken much 

 notice of their habits. Butterflies are seldom attacked 

 by birds, while moths form a tasty morsel. If moths 

 moved about by day in the same way as butterflies we 

 should see them being continually devoured by a host 

 of insectivorous enemies. It is only when they are 

 occasionally disturbed that birds have an opportunity 

 of darting on them in the air, and we seldom see those 

 occasions when they are sought out and captured on 

 the bark of the trees. I have records of warblers, 

 robins, chats, flycatchers and woodpeckers from time 

 to time devouring moths, and I have no doubt that 

 they are far more persistently preyed on than the 

 conspicuous but nauseous butterflies. 



Butterflies have few enemies, probably in conse- 

 quence of their being distasteful to insectivorous 

 animals. During seven years' observation in the East 

 I have witnessed an attack of birds on butterflies only 



