At last you are on the hunting ground, fully equipped but inexperienced, and at first find yourself just a little awkward in the use of your new gear. Your experience with the cap has been a very wide one, and you are possibly an expert at knocking down 'Whites' in the streets and in your neighbour's kitchen gardens. Now you have to wield the net, and coax your captives into your killing bottle; hence a slight feeling of incompetence at first.
You soon get over this, however, and within five minutes you may be seen furiously slashing away at all the poor butterflies that come within range, common 'Whites' and dingy 'Browns' receiving as much attention at your hands as any rare gem that may happen to cross your path.
How different are the movements of an experienced collector! He walks stealthily along the route he has chosen, apparently taking but little notice of the majority of butterflies that approach and pass him. He has already secured his 'series' of nearly all the species, and is carefully on the watch for the gems that are required to complete his cabinet. His actions are slow and deliberate rather than rash; and he trusts more to his eyes than his legs.
The beginner may take to his field work quite to his own satisfaction, and may travel homeward with a feeling of great pride over his first day's catch; but yet there are a few points in which a little advice may not be quite out of place, particularly so with regard to the management of the net, and the killing and pinning of the insects.
Most of the butterflies may be caught on the wing, and it is far better to net them in the air than to sweep them off the herbage and flowers. If these are rather low, you should strike the net smartly upwards from below them, but of course this movement is impossible with insects that happen to be almost above your reach. If a butterfly is busily engaged in searching out its sweet food, flying from flower to flower, don't think of giving chase, but follow it up stealthily, and you will sooner or later get an opportunity of striking at it while in the air. Sometimes, however, you will see a powerful flier making a straight dash across your field, taking no notice whatever of the fragrant blossoms, but evidently engaged on some important errand. If such happens to be a species you
require, then you must run for it, but you will probably be satisfied with only a few chases of this kind, particularly if the sun is very hot, and the ground diversified with clumps of furze, heather, 'molehills,' and ditches.
There are times when your only plan of netting a butterfly is to sweep it from a flower or leaf on which it has settled. If the vegetation is very low, you have simply to bring the net down upon it, and then, holding up the apex of the net with the other hand so as to give it room to fly, you can inclose it by grasping the lower part of the net as soon as the butterfly has fluttered upward. If the herbage is tall it is advisable to strike either upward or sideways at the insect, starting it from the leaf or flower on which it rests; for if you bring down the net you will have to inclose the whole or part of the plant on which the butterfly has settled—a procedure that often ends in a torn net, or in the insect becoming damaged through being rubbed against the plant.
Whenever you capture a butterfly by a sweep of the net through the air, you immediately turn the ring into a horizontal position, so that the bag of the net closes itself as it falls over the edge. This gives you an opportunity of examining the insect before you introduce your killing bottle. This is a very necessary precaution, for you are generally unable to judge of the condition of a butterfly while on the wing, and in some cases you cannot even be certain of the species. If, then, you were to call the killing bottle into requisition for every capture you make, you would certainly find yourself taking the life of many an insect that is of no use whatever to you. Always examine your specimens at the moment they have been secured, at least as far as it is possible to do so, by looking through the gauze; and let your examination be as brief as possible, or some of the butterflies that were at first in splendid condition will render themselves useless to you during their struggles to get away.
When satisfied that an insect is likely to be of value to you, keep it in the apex of the net by grasping the bag beneath it with the left hand, and then introduce the opened killing bottle with the other hand. As a rule you will experience not the slightest difficulty in coaxing it into its trap, and then you quickly cover the mouth of the killing bottle with the gauze, then apply your left hand, using it as a temporary stopper for a few seconds, and now, the insect having been quieted, replace the cork.
A good killing bottle is almost instantaneous in its action, not