Vlll 
ADDRESS. 
perchance when quite exhausted, it has suddenly 
vanished among the dried branches of a leafless 
tree, and the bewildered bird, as if by magic 
art, is, in a second, cheated of his prey, while 
he darts his searching glance from side to side, 
unmindful of a certain decayed leaf which, in his 
hot pursuit, he has apparently brushed from the 
bough, and which falls to the earth unnoticed 
among those already scattered there. A word or 
two will explain. Nature, who has greatly mul- 
tiplied the perils of this little insect’s life by so 
superbly decking it with crimson and purple 
and green and gold, in gorgeous combination, 
most fascinating to the Fly-catcher, has not 
neglected to provide it with means of escape the 
most subtle and the most admirable. The under 
surface of the wing is so exquisitely pencilled in 
imitation of a dead leaf, that not even the 
closest ocular scrutiny can detect the fraud ; and 
no less care and design are displayed in the 
structure of the body, which as nicely resembles 
a small stem or twig, to which the leaf is 
attached. Thus, when closely pursued, the 
Leaf-butterfly will seldom fail of escape by 
closing its wings and taking advantage of this 
deception. 
