94 WILD BIRDS 



of insect flight are far more numerous than those 

 of birds and bats. The difference between the 

 paper-like flutter of some of our butterflies and 

 moths and the tremendous energy of such insects 

 as the syrphi and some hawkmoths is greater than 

 the difference between the weakest bird flier and 

 the strongest. It often seems as if the thin-bodied 

 moths can only go where the air by chance carries 

 them. That was my notion for some time, but, 

 watching closer, I incline to think their course is 

 not quite so random. 



In June I saw a pretty and gay moth, named the 

 spotted yellow, macularia, in large numbers by Cor- 

 nish roadsides. It flies by day, and, though not 

 one of the feeblest-looking moths on the wing, takes 

 a course that seems random. Macularia tacks 

 and zigzags along, and appears to fall anyhow into 

 the roadside herbage. I saw it on a lovely day 

 when the burnet rose was full out in the hedges 

 and what a blue was the Cornish sea that day ! 



It is hard to get out of the habit of thinking that 

 the spotted yellow or the carpet moths are carried 

 by chance anywhere, have no wing- will of their own ; 

 but I believe the habit is wrong. These insects, 

 despite their appearance, go where they need to go, 

 in pursuit of nectar or in pursuit of love. They are 

 not so much at the mercy of the smallest puff of air 

 as we may think. But mainly it is the weightier- 

 bodied flier that can steer straightest among insects 

 and master the air better. In natural flight, weight 

 can be an aid, part indeed of the flier's equipment. 



