THROUGH THE YEAR 97 



peror is the glory of its flight, but this is not achieved 

 without some ordinary butterfly effort, including an 

 odd little jerk before each glide, which is seen, too, 

 in the flight of the white admiral butterfly. The 

 jerky action seems to me the same in both, but 

 perhaps a little more pronounced in the emperor. 

 Here the likeness ends. 



The flight of the emperor and the style in which 

 he sails about the tree tops in the breeze is more 

 powerful than the admiral's way. This emperor 

 was rather small the size of the males varies some- 

 what but I adjudged that, though it was near mid- 

 August, he was still in fine condition. Once, when 

 he came down from the tree tops and sailed over 

 me, I could see that his wings were not spoilt in 

 outline, whereas most of the silver-washed fritillaries 

 dashing about the brambles were frayed in their 

 hind wings. 



The place where my emperor sailed is a typical 

 haunt of this kind. He has I imagine he generally 

 has a host of small companions that disport 

 themselves around, the purple hairstreaks. They 

 begin to appear about the oak in June or early July, 

 and linger till mid-September. In hot weather 

 they are moving about the oak trees most of the 

 morning and afternoon, but a bright evening seems 

 their favourite time for frolic and fight. After a 

 dull day, I have seen them sport around the oaks as 

 late as six o'clock in the evening. Settling on an 

 oak leaf the purple hairstreak will turn its back to 

 the sun and, opening wide its wings, lay them flat 



