XIX 
BEAUTIFUL HAWK-MOTHS 
In the late summer I often walk by flowery places 
of an evening, or at some late hours by moonlight, 
in the hope of seeing that rare night-wanderer, the 
death’s-head moth; but the hope is now an old 
one, so worn and faded that it is hardly more than 
the memory of a hope. Why, I have asked myself 
times without number, am I so luckless in my 
quest of an insect which is not only a large object 
to catch the eye but has a voice, or sound, as well 
to attract a seeker’s attention? On _ consulting 
others on this point, some of them lepidopterists 
and diligent collectors, they have assured me that 
they have never once had a glimpse of the living 
free Acherontia atropas going about on his flowery 
business. 
A few years ago, while on a ramble in a southern 
county, I heard of a gentleman in the neighbour- 
hood who had a taste for adders and death’s-head 
moths and was accustomed to collect and keep 
them in considerable numbers in his house. My 
own partiality for adders induced me to call on 
him, and we exchanged experiences and had some 
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