174 LIFE AND SPORT IN HAMPSHIRE 



marked even among fastidious butterflies, the marbled- 

 white inhabits certain strips and patches of ground, 

 appearing here in the winged state summer after 

 summer, and not spreading through the country 

 around, though the food of its caterpillar grows in 

 plenty. Through old experience for the marbled- 

 white was one of the first butterflies I watched in our 

 Hampshire highlands I have come to know a likely 

 bit of ground for this insect, and to predict with some 

 confidence whether it will be found there. A fairly 

 long strip of turf by a branch road through the chalk 

 downs and valleys, alongside it a tangle of yellow 

 bedstraw, rough, tall grasses, knapweed, and scabious, 

 then the hedge with the cornfield beyond this is the 

 place for the marbled-white. There is a strip of this 

 character in North Hampshire which for several years 

 I associated with the marbled-white, but, not visiting 

 the place at the right season, I only saw the butterfly 

 there for the first time in 1907. It came on the wing 

 late in July, though often I have seen it early in the 

 month in our woods and common. The marbled-white 

 flies up and down this strip of grassy waste by the road 

 about four yards broad, and a hundred or so long, and 

 rarely roams from it. 



I put butterflies roughly into three classes of flight ; 

 those that cut through the air with clean strokes, soar- 

 ing and sweeping along gracefully or powerfully ; those 

 that dart swiftly and zigzag the skippers, for instance ; 

 and those that bob and toss themselves in a style that 



