1 84 NATURE'S STORY OF THE YEAR 



always to adopt the same kind of shelter. Many 

 roost on the decayed flower heads of plants not 

 on the bright blossoms, where they would be con- 

 spicuous, but on the dead seed-heads, the colours 

 of which approximate to those of the under sur- 

 faces of their wings. I have seen nine common 

 " blues " asleep on the three seed-heads of one small 

 plant ; but I never saw three of them on a single 

 flower. The wall butterfly sleeps in walls ; and 

 the under surface of the insect is of the colour of 

 grey stone. " Peacocks " and " red admirals " 

 roost under the ledges of banks, on dark stems 

 of trees, or on twigs in very dark foliage. A 

 peacock in a garden used to retire to the upper 

 part of a thick cypress tree. Under the ledge of a 

 certain bank I used to find every year a supply of 

 these insects. One September a tortoiseshell 

 butterfly used to come every fine evening to a 

 certain office window, which was generally open, 

 enter, and sleep on the glass. Every morning he 

 was let out. One day he flitted around the room, 

 and suddenly entered the crevice over books on a 

 shelf. He did not come out, and, the place being 

 very dry, it was thought that he might have died 



