A BUTTERFLY HUNT 209 



and downlands above. The banks are topped 

 with brambles, heavy with ripening fruit and 

 entwined with late honeysuckle, which is just 

 coming into bloom. . . . What is it that teaches 

 butterflies to study effective backgrounds ? 

 Why does the Red Admiral spread his black 

 and scarlet beauty on great clumps of yellow 

 fleabane, which blaze in the hot sunshine on 

 the bank bordering the sunny side of the lane ? 

 Why does the Peacock, umber-red and smoky- 

 grey, with great black spots dusted with sky- 

 blue, poise itself on the right shade of mauve 

 background, provided by the spreading heads 

 of hemp agrimony ? 



Absorbed in such thoughts, we wander 

 upwards by the narrow lane, picking our way 

 at times from stone to stone, where a spring of 

 clear water has burst its way through the bank, 

 choosing the little lane as the easiest route by 

 which to go tinkling down the hill-side to the 

 sea. Then the lane narrows perceptibly, the 

 banks growing higher than ever, till we pass 

 through a mysterious shady tunnel where 

 branches of sloe and oak scrub meet overhead 

 and the sunshine penetrates only in a shimmer 

 of greenish light. Here we find what we are 

 looking for, a pair of Speckled Wood (or Wood 

 Argus) butterflies, with their dancing flight, 



14 



