.BUFF-TIP MOTH. LAPPET MOTH. 207 



From its throne on the top of a tall nettle, where it sat fan- 

 ning the air with its black, crimson-barred wings, Dick captured a 

 magnificent red admiral, and shortly after another of the same 

 species. Gorgeous as the upper surface of the wings of this 

 butterfly is, the under side is quite as beautiful in a quieter 

 way, with its delicate tracery of brown and grey. 



While Dick was setting the butterfly in his box, Frank 

 leaned against the trunk of an oak-tree, and as he did so he 

 caught sight of a moth which was resting upon it. It was a 

 large thick-bodied moth, and Dick on being appealed to said 

 it must be a buff-tip moth, from the large patches of pale buff 

 colour at the ends of its wings. Frank said, 



" I should not have seen that moth if my face had not 

 almost touched it. Its colour suits the tree-trunk so admirably 

 that it looks just like a piece of the rough bark. I suppose it 

 knows that, and rests on the oak-tree for safety." 



"Yes," said Dick; "I have read that many moths and butter- 

 flies are so like the substances on which they rest by day, that 

 they can scarcely be distinguished from them, and of course 

 there must be a meaning in it The lappet-moth looks exactly 

 like two or three oak-leaves stuck together, and its wings are 

 folded in a peculiar manner, so as to keep up the delusion. 

 There are caterpillars too which can stiffen themselves and 

 stand out on end, so as to look like sticks." 



" It is the same with birds'- eggs," said Frank. " Those which 

 are laid on the ground without any attempt at concealment are 

 of such a colour that you can hardly see them. For instance, 

 take a partridge or pheasant. How like their eggs are in colour 

 to the dead leaves of the ditch where they nest. The same 

 with the lapwings, and all the plover tribe. Coots and water- 

 hens' eggs are so like their nests, that at a little distance you 

 cannot tell whether there are eggs in or not." 



" I wonder," said Dick, " if birds take any pleasure in the 

 prettiness of their eggs. If so (and I don't see why they 

 shouldn't), there is a reason why birds which build in bushes 

 and branches of trees should have pretty coloured eggs, as they 

 have, and why birds which build in dark holes should have 

 white or light-coloured eggs, otherwise they would not see them 

 at all." 



" That is a very ingenious theory, Dick, and it may have 

 something of truth in it," answered Frank. 



