31 



IV, 



BUTTERFLY-HUNTING BEGINS. 



The Lammas Fields are now positively 

 thick with various butterflies, so I have come 

 out this brilliant afternoon to watch and make 

 notes, as my wont is, on their habits and 

 manners. The first of May is to the natural- 

 ist what the twelfth of August or the first of 

 September is to the sportsman — it is the real 

 opening of his year, the date when flower- 

 hunting and butterfly-hunting both begin. 

 On the 2nd, in spite of backward weather, 

 the cabbage butterflies were alroady airing 

 their sulphur-yellow pinions in the sun, above 

 the tall lilac sprays of the lady-smocks. Two 

 days later the dragon-flies were darting after 



