A GIFT OF GOD 35 



by the wind and beaten on by the rain, still held 

 itself aloft, and plunged trunk into the nectaries, 

 seeking their sweetmeats. Sometimes the wind would 

 toss it from the blossom ere it could poise close 

 enough to plunge trunk down nectary; but beaten 

 once or twice, it would return, and in the end succeed. 

 Whilst this moth hovers, the wings appear to whir 

 not at right angles to its body: I should say they 

 may be at an angle of forty-five degrees 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 as not to crumple 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 infallible of eye. It 

 will sometimes visit dead blossoms of plants round 

 which it is hovering. True, it discovers instantly that 

 they are dead, and in a flash is at a fresh flower ! 

 Still, were its sight extremely powerful, would it waste 

 one beat of a lightning wing on a visit of inquiry to 

 a flower spent and almost colourless ? The sphinx 

 is not the only sweet-seeker that makes a momentary 

 mistake like this. The humble-bee has an eye for 

 colour, but has it an eye for form ? It came to the 



