MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST 



never had been found by a person so familiar with all 

 outdoors as my father. Then came a second discovery: 

 it could curl its beak in a little coil when leaving a flower. 

 A few days later I saw distinctly that it had four wings 

 but I could discover no feet. I became a rank doubter, 

 and when these convincing proofs were carried to my 

 father, he also grew dubious. 



"I always have thought and been taught that it was a 

 bird," he said, "but you see so clearly and report so ac- 

 curately, you almost convince me it is some large insect, 

 possibly of the moth family." 



When I carried this opinion to my mother and told 

 her, no doubt pompously, that "very possibly" I had 

 discovered that the Lady Bird was not a bird at all, she 

 hailed it as high treason, and said, "Of course it is a 

 bird ! " That forced me to action. The desperate course 

 of capturing one was resolved upon. If only I could, 

 surely its feet, legs, and wings would tell if it were a 

 bird. By the hour I slipped among those bloom-bordered 

 walks between the beds of flaming sweet-williams, but- 

 tercups, phlox, tiger and day liHes, Job's tears, holly- 

 hocks, petunias, poppies, mignonette, and every dear, 

 old-fashioned flower that grows, and followed around 

 the flower-edged beds of lettuce, radishes, and small 

 vegetables, relentlessly trailing Lady Birds. 



Pass after pass I made at them, but they always dived 

 and escaped me. At last, when I almost had given up the 



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