200 THE MOTH, AND THE 
(coccinella septem punctata), was so obvious, as to be 
remarked by very indifferent persons. 
There is a large yellow under-wing moth (phalaena 
pronuba), too, which is generally abundant. It hides 
itself during the day in the thickest foliage, and screens 
itself from the light in the moist grass crops of the 
mead, where it is perpetually disturbed, and roused 
from its rest, by the scythe of the mower. That ele- 
gant little bird, the yellow wagtail, is a great destroyer 
of this insect. It is very soon apprized of these move- 
ments, and will often attend the steps of the mower, 
fearless of harm, to watch for its prey. As soon as the 
moth rises, it is chased ; and its exertions and shiftings 
to escape, and the activity and perseverance of the bird 
to capture it, are very amusing. 
Opr lepidopterous insects feed upon various sub- 
stances in their several states, and most of our butter- 
flies, when perfected, appear to extract the sweet liquor 
from the tubes or nectaries of plants, and many of our 
moths obtain their nourishment by similar means : but 
one butterfly alone, the admirable (v. Atalanta), and at 
times the peacock (v. Io), feeds upon the juices of our 
autumnal fruits ; and in the months of September and 
October we may frequently see these beautiful creatures 
basking and regaling themselves upon the rejected frag- 
ments of our wall fruit They seldom prey upon the 
growing produce, like the hornet, wasp, and hive bee, 
but when it has fallen and advanced to a state of fer- 
mentation, it becomes the most grateful to them. No- 
thing can be less injurious than this propensity, and it 
seems that fruit in such a state is requisite for them by 
some constitutional formation, as they appear only at 
the termination of a season when the product of our 
trees is in a state of great ripeness and decay. The life 
of this creature appears to be remarkably short, and we 
have more certain means of ascertaining its duration, 
than are afforded us for others of the race. It very 
rarely appears until late in September, and then so per- 
fect and fresh in its plumage as to manifest its recent 
production from the chrysalis. In some years they 
abound, and we may see twenty of these beautiful crea- 
