HABITS, 117 



and again, circle around each other with amazing 

 celerity, all the while perchance mounting sky- 

 ward, until suddenly they part, dash to the 

 ground, and the now quiet pursuer again stations 

 himself on the very spot he quitted for the fray. 

 But they are not always particular to choose one 

 of their own kind for this 

 combat. Toss your hat in 

 the air, and almost any of 

 our Angle- Wings will dash 

 at it and circle around it as 

 it rises and falls ; and the P Sas 10 n^ H S s SS 

 little American Copper 



[Fig. 105], one of our smallest butterflies, will 

 dart at every bulky grasshopper or locust that 

 shoots across its field of vision. 



Some butterflies are as fond of water, or even 

 of ordure, as they are of the sugared sweets of 

 flowers. Every one must have noticed at the 

 brink of roadside pools left by a recent rain, how 

 the yellow butterflies will start up at one's ap- 

 proach, flutter about a few moments,' and then 

 settle down again to their repast. On favorable 

 occasions, you may find them ranged by hundreds 

 along the edge of a puddle, with wings erect, 

 crowded as closely as they can be packed. The 

 little azure butterflies congregate in the same way 

 about moist spots in the roads through woods ; but 

 as they choose less frequented places, this is not 



