1 82 NATURE'S STORY OF THE YEAR 



the common " tortoiseshell." Some years ago I 

 hung a number of chrysalides of the last species in 

 a garden, where they duly hatched, and plenty of 

 flowers being near, the insects did not quit the 

 spot, but stayed there all the autumn, hybernated, 

 and reappeared the next spring. About noon on 

 some of the quiet September days, when the garden 

 starlings were soaring about for insects (as they do 

 in sultry weather), one or more of the tortoiseshells 

 would also rise, spreading their wings and sailing 

 this way and that like the birds, and soaring even 

 higher than they, until mere specks against the 

 white revealed the insects. They would even pass 

 clearly out of sight, and remain away for many 

 minutes ; but they never rose to this height unless 

 the air was quite still ; and they always returned 

 from the sky in the same way, descending very 

 slowly while flying in wide circles. They did not 

 all soar at the same time, nor with equal frequency ; 

 one male was a particularly persistent soarer. 



Why did they do it ? Certainly not for food. 

 Not to meet others, for the sexes do not seek each 

 other till the spring. Could it be that these tiny 

 creatures had any sense of the beauty of a basking 



