24 IN THE ACADIAN LAND. 



of the road that one may pick them up with 

 thumb and fingers. Here are a half-dozen 

 crowding each other, their wings nervously 

 trembling with excitement. Among them is 

 one with a bit taken out of each wing ; the gaps 

 are of the same pattern. It is the work of a 

 bird. The insect was seized while at rest with 

 wings together: in no other way could it be 

 done. Birds are their greatest enemies. One 

 often sees them with tattered and broken wings, 

 where they have escaped as by the skin of their 

 teeth. Any of our insect-eating birds will now 

 and then make a dash for a butterfly, but to 

 actually capture one is not an easy matter. One 

 often hears the expression a "butterfly exist- 

 ence," meaning a life. of gay trifling, flitting here 

 and there among sweets all the long summer 

 days in peace and security. It is all a mistake. 

 Nature bestows these blessings in full measure 

 on no living thing. Struggle and warfare, fight- 

 ing and dodging, creeping upon and being crept 

 upon, are what we find in every department ot 

 life. Our pretty yellow and black butterfly 

 does not find nectar in every flower he visits : 

 other hungry insects may have drained it of 

 sweets. Many blossoms are so made that he 

 cannot partake of their treasures. One may see 

 them try this one and that one during a half- 



