HUMMING-BIRD HAWK MOTH. 15 



The average span of the wings is rather less 

 than two inches. The upper pair of wings are 

 of a neutral tint, tending to brownish black. 

 Across the centre of each run two parallel wavy 

 black lines, about one-fourth of an inch apart, in 

 the space between which is a small black dot. 

 The rest of the wings are of a cloudy pattern, 

 pale in the middle and tending to black at the 

 base and outer margin. The lower wings are 

 pale yellow, shaded with blackish grey at the 

 base, deepening into orange towards the margin, 

 and thence to a ruddy brown. 



The thorax, which is well clothed with hair, 

 is uniform in colour with the fore-wings a 

 brownish black; a wedge-shaped streak of the 

 same colour rtms along the upper part of the 

 abdomen to the tail, which is strongly tufted 

 with hairs of a similar shade. The rest of the 

 abdomen is marked in chequers of black and 

 white. The long spiral tongue and proboscis 

 can be projected to a considerable distance from 

 the head, so that the insect can feed while on 

 the wing. 



Few persons, when they have once seen it, 

 will forget the manner in which this Moth feeds. 

 The spectator may be looking at a flower, and 

 be close to it, when suddenly a moth appears 



