A FAIRY FAUNA 63 



disturbed they rise up with a loud buzz like a swarm 

 of angry wasps, and after wheehng about in a confused, 

 noisy cloud for a few moments they settle again, and 

 the mound of old gold is formed once more. It is a 

 fascinating sight ; and a nature-lover of a sensibility as 

 exquisite as that of Charles Lamb, when he looked 

 at the Fleet Street crowd at eleven o'clock at night, 

 might, too, shed " tears of happiness at the sight of so 

 much life." 



Now, just as the cow-dung attracts the great 

 golden fly, so does the purple patch of thyme attract 

 the smaller crimson-banded fly of the downs. I 

 suppose it is the scent that draws him, and possibly 

 they go to it more for pleasure than profit; at all 

 events, they are not so much occupied in feeding on 

 the flowers as in rapidly moving about over and 

 among them; not flying but creeping and running 

 hither and thither, crossing and recrossing each other's 

 track in every direction, a maze of black and red flies 

 performing a sort of complicated dance, all agitating 

 and waving their glistening wings, as if that bath of 

 sweetness had made them mad with delight. 



Some of my readers may be inclined to ask — 

 Why, when describing an interesting habit of any 

 creatm:e, do I not give the scientific name ? Well, 

 it would undoubtedly be easy to do so in some 

 cases; for instance, when speaking of the common 

 or house sparrow, or the stag-beetle, it would be 

 easy to follow the example of those writers who 



