AUGUST 169 



the nervous fluttering which usually char- 

 acterizes the butterflies should disturb this 

 fellow. The broad yellow wings, with their 

 black stripes and margins, and with the 

 blue and orange buttons at the tip of their 

 slender tails, give to this beautiful butterfly 

 the name of the tiger swallowtail. Of 

 course this formidable title refers only to the 

 color, for a butterfly must, by his very 

 structure, be a harmless and inoffensive 

 animal. The beetle may sometimes pinch, 

 the bug or the fly may occasionally pierce 

 with his pointed tongue, the bee or the wasp 

 may sting; but the butterfly has no safety 

 in most cases but in avoiding notice or in 

 immediate and precipitate flight. Our com- 

 mon red-brown monarch is said to be so 

 offensive in his flavor as to be too unpleas- 

 ant to eat. But as for most butterflies, birds 

 can and do eat them with apparent relish. 

 Even our abused English sparrow, with 

 his bill shaped for seed-cracking, does not 

 disdain to double and turn now and then 

 to capture the venturesome little sulphur- 

 yellow butterfly. 



