THE GREEN HAIR-STREAK 15 



PLATE VIII 

 THE GREEN HAIR-STREAK (1) 



The Hair-streaks are pretty little butterflies 

 which you can very easily tell by sight. For, in 

 the first place, they always have a pale streak, 

 or a row of little white dots, scarcely thicker 

 than a hair, running across the lower surface of 

 the wings. That is why they are called " Hair- 

 streaks." And, in the second place, the hind 

 wings have a pair of little tails, something like 

 those of the swallow-tail butterfly, only of course 

 very much smaller. 



Five different kinds of these butterflies are 

 found in the British Islands, but only two of 

 them are at all common. For the Green Hair- 

 streak you should look on heaths, in open spaces 

 in woods, on grassy banks by the roadside, and 

 in other places in which brambles grow. You 

 can easily tell it from all the other Hair-streaks 

 by the bright green colour of its lower surface, 

 and also by its small size, for it only measures 

 about an inch across its outspread wings. The 

 caterpillar, which is light green or greenish-yellow 

 in colour, with a row of triangular yellow spots 

 running along each side, feeds on bramble shoots 

 and blossoms. You may find it in July, and the 

 butterfly makes its appearance in May and June, 

 and sometimes again in August. 



