82 WOEK AT HOME AND IN THE FIELD 



Catching Moths by Day 



The reason for choosing the sunny hours for butterfly collecting 

 is obvious, all these lovers of brightness being then actively on 

 the wing ; and although many may be driven out of their hiding 

 places by beating the herbage with the handle of your net, or even 

 be searched out as they rest on stalks and leaves during dull days 

 or at morning and evening twilight, yet such methods are com- 

 paratively tedious and unproductive. 



Some moths also are lovers of sunshine, and while engaged in 

 butterfly hunting you will often meet with a moth flying briskly 

 from flower to flower and taking its fill of both sweetness and 

 brightness. Again, as you wade among flowery herbs in quest of 

 butterflies you will certainly disturb a number of moths, causing 

 them to take a short flight in search of a safer spot. Thus you will 

 almost invariably find a few moths among the contents of your 

 collecting box even though you made no special effort to seek 

 them out. But we shall now see how we may set to work to 

 obtain a successful catch of moths at times when butterflies are 

 not so much in demand, -or during the less brilliant hours of the 

 day, when butterflies are at rest. 



The apparatus required for this work need not differ in any impor- 

 tant respect from that recommended for butterflies. The same net is 

 used, any reliable killing bottle will do, and the pins and collecting 

 box used for butterflies are equally serviceable. But your mode 

 of procedure is very different. 



As you walk towards your proposed hunting ground you will 

 do well to examine the trunks of trees, old walls, and wooden fences. 

 In this way you will meet with moths fast asleep, which are 

 consequently easily taken. All you have to do is to hold the open 

 killing bottle obliquely just below the insect, and then push it 

 gently downward with a small twig or stalk. As a rule the moth 

 will drop direct into the bottle and make no attempt to fly away ; 

 but some are very light sleepers, ready to take flight at the slightest 

 disturbance ; and when dealing with these you must be careful to 

 bring the mouth of the killing bottle so closely round them that 

 there is no room for flight except into the bottle itself. It is well, 

 however, not to take long at this kind of searching, but to reserve 

 as much as possible of your time for what you consider to be a 

 very favourable locality. 



Speaking generally, a good locality for butterflies is a favourable 



