366 THE DEATH'S-HEAD MOTH. 



of a glossy black, with only a white spot under the 

 throat; but before the season is over they are of a 

 dirty brown. 



The swifts do not appear able to endure the greatest 

 intensity of the summer heat ; for, on very warm days, 

 their huntings are confined to the mornings and even- 

 ings ; when, in places that abound with insects, they may 

 be seen darting about in all directions. Like swallows, 

 they drink on the wing, sipping the surface of pools 

 and brooks, and also dew-drops from the leaves of 

 plants. They have different hunting times, and lay all 

 descriptions of insects under contribution. In the 

 morning their chief prey consists of day-flies ; in the 

 evening they pursue the moths; and during those hot 

 gleams at mid-day, when the dragon-flies are beating 

 the sedges along a brook for moths, the swifts may be 

 seen coursing and capturing the spoilers with equal assi- 

 duity. By a brook, those bright hours are particularly 

 interesting, and one is at a loss to determine whether 

 most to admire the ingenuity displayed in the produc- 

 tion of life, or that displayed in its extinction. 



If the course of a brook is through rich, cultivated 

 lands, in a warm situation, a singular insect is some- 

 times met with near its banks. That insect is 



THE DEATH'S-HEAD MOTH. 



MOTHS, though often very beautiful, always indolent, 

 and, as compared with some other insects, harmless to 

 man, have, like bats and owls, got some prejudices 

 raised against them on account of the time at which 

 they are most upon the wing. Their wings are closely 



