SOME ENGLISH BUTTERFLIES 



often seen dancing beside it on the same fields and hill- 

 sides. From late May to the time of the autumn frosts 

 the fields and healthy places are also brightened by the 

 Small Copper, a kind of fox-terrier among butterflies, 

 inquisitive, pugnacious, and full of vigour and brisk 

 attractiveness. Sometimes in the heat of the dogdays, 

 when the hay is all carried and the dewless meadows 

 parched and bare, the Common Blues and Coppers 

 wander forth from their usual haunts, and may be 

 seen exploring the unwonted closes of lawns and gar- 

 dens, in quest of the measure of moist coolness which 

 they need. For though butterflies are such lovers of 

 sunshine, their delicate lives cannot endure the abso- 

 lute drought of the desert ; and in the fieriest July 

 weather the beautiful sight may often be seen of a 

 thirsty cloud of Blues or Whites fluttering and settling 

 on a wet patch where water has been spilt in the dusty 

 roadway, or at the moist edge of a pool or running 

 stream. 



Deep in the southern oakwoods in July the great 

 Purple Emperors hold court round the airy crests of the 

 boughs, amid a silence so songless and solemn that the 

 rustle of their own high, flashing wings may sometimes 

 be heard in the sunshine above the murmur of omni- 

 present insect life that is the warp and woof of the still- 

 ness. There is indeed a majesty about the soaring, 

 indifferent flight of this brilliant butterfly of the forest 



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