the tops of the highest oaks to sip
the juices from any decaying or excremental matter. Now, therefore,
the recognised bait is a dead dog or cat in a severe state of
"highness." The "gamekeeper's museum" in the few places where Iris now
resorts may be searched with advantage, yielding also a plentiful
supply of beetles of various sorts. The "Holly Blue" I have noticed to
have a similar degraded taste.

Mud holes also in hot weather attract many butterflies, as do the
sweet exudations from various trees, or from fallen or over-ripe
fruit.

Occasionally a high-flying insect may be induced to follow to the
ground a stone or piece of turf thrown up in front of it. The
persistent manner in which some species will return again and again to
the very same spot is something wonderful. The same flower head, the
same muddy puddle or patch of road, is selected. The collector, if
foiled in his first attempt, will do well, therefore, to wait for the
probable return of his prize. Certain species frequent the chalk
district only, others woods and sandy lanes; some are found only high
up in the mountains of the north, others but in the low-lying valleys
of the south.

The sea coast has its specialities, some insects even flying well out
to seaward, in crossing from land to land. I remember a
"crimson-speckled footman" moth, Deiopeia pulchella, flying on board a
steamship whilst we were fully a hundred miles from the nearest land.
No place, in fact, should be disregarded in which to search for
insects, for some are so exceedingly local that a district of perhaps
twenty miles in extent may be searched in vain for a desired species,
until the collector suddenly comes upon one or two fields swarming
with them.

Nor is this all, for in the case of two or three extremely local
species, but one or two spots in the British Isles are their favoured
haunts. Bean fields in flower, clover and lucerne fields in sunshine,
are first-class hunting grounds, whilst on cloudy or very windy days
many butterflies, such as the Blues, may be found resting on grasses
or on tree trunks in woods; or, as in the case of the Hairstreaks,
higher up under the leaves. Beating the boughs with a long stick will
often force insects to fly, when their presence is unknown to us.

I have hitherto spoken of the collecting of insects by day only, but
as there are many insects--moths--which appear but at night, we must
follow them to their haunts, prepared with lantern