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136
My Studio Neighbors
·
W. Hamilton Gibson
82
One
July
afternoon
a
year
ago
I
was
returning
home
from
one
of
my
botanizing
strolls.
I
had
just
emerged
from
a
deep
wood,
and
was
skirting
its
border,
when
my
attention
was
caught
by
a
small
fluttering
swarm
of
butterflies,
which
started
up
at
my
approach
and
hovered
about
a
blossoming
blackberry
bush
a
few
yards
in
advance
of
me
at
the
side
of
my
path.
The
diversity
of
the
butterfly
species
in
the
swarm
struck
me
as
singular,
and
the
mere
allurement
of
the
blackberry
blossoms--not
usually
of
especial
attraction
to
butterflies--could
hardly
explain
so
extensive
a
gathering.
Here
was
the
great
yellow
swallow-tail
(Turnus),
red
admiral
(Atlanta),
small
yellow
butterfly
(Philodice),
white
cabbage-butterfly,
comma
and
semicolon,
and
numerous
small
fry,
fluttering
about
me
in
evident
protest
against
my
intrusion.
They
showed
no
inclination
to
vacate
the
premises,
so,
in
pursuance
of
one
of
the
first
articles
of
my
saunterer's
creed,
I
concluded
to
retreat
softly
a
few
paces
and
watch
for
developments.
One
by
one
the
swarm
sought
their
original
haunt,
settling
on
the
bramble,
and
I
now
noticed
that
only
in
occasional
instances
did
the
insects
seek
the
flowers,
the
attraction
seeming
to
be
confined
to
the
leaves.
I
stole
up
softly
for
a
nearer
point
of
observation,
and
could
now
distinctly
see
the
beautiful
yellow
and
black
open
wings
of
the
swallow-tail
softly
gliding
or
gently
fluttering
as
it
hung
from
the
edge
of
a
leaf,
while
it
explored
its
surface
with
its
uncoiled
capillary
tongue.
Just
beyond
my
Turnus,
on
another
leaf,
I
now
noted
a
new
presence,
the
orange
Aphrodite
butterfly,
silvery
spotted,
its
nether
wings
being
folded
over
its
back,
too
much
absorbed
to
have
been
startled
by
my
first
approach.
Occasionally,
without
any
cause
which
I
could
detect
from
my
present
position--certainly
in
no
way
connected
with
my
presence--a
small
swarm
of
the
butterflies
would
rise
in
a
flutter
above
the
bush,
as
though
actuated
by
a
common
whim--a
brief
winged
tangle
in
which
a
beautiful
sprite
of
velvety
black
hovering
in
a
globular
halo,
shot
through
with
two
white
semicircular
arcs,
was
always
a
momentary
feature.
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