BRITISH BUTTERFLIES 



trunk down nectary ; but defeated once or twice, he 

 would return and in the end succeed. 



Whilst this humming-bird hawk moth hovers, its 

 wings appear to whir not at right angles to its body 

 I should say they may be at an angle of 45 deg. or so, 

 and away from the head. Often whilst drawing the 

 sweets from a blossom, the insect is hung in the air, 

 touching nothing with its legs, which are laid back 

 close to the body, like those of a sea-gull in flight. But, 

 look very closely, and you will see that now and then 

 when the hawk moth appears to be hanging in the air 

 it is really resting so lightly, though, as not to crum- 

 ple a petal ! on the flower, with its thin little grey 

 legs. 



Yet, resting so, it keeps whirring its wings as if it 

 were hanging without support. 



One thing I notice in my sphinx which shows it not 

 so infallible of eye as it might be. It will sometimes 

 visit dead blossoms of plants round which it is hovering. 

 True, it discovers instantly that they are dead, and 

 is gone in a flash to a fresh blossom. Still, were its 

 sight extremely powerful, would it waste one beat of 

 the lightning wing on a visit of inquiry to a flower 

 that was spent and almost colourless ? I think not 

 The sphinx is not the only sweet-seeker that makes a 

 momentary mistake of the kind. The cumbrous 

 droning humble bee has an eye for colour, but has it 



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