After you have learned the markings and colours, and secured
pictures if you desire, and they begin to exhibit a restlessness,
as soon as it is dusk, release them. They are as well prepared
for all life has for them as if they had emerged in the woods.
The chances are that they are surer of life at your hands than
they would have been if left afield, provided you keep them cool
enough that they do not emerge too soon. If you want to
photograph them, do it when the wings are fully developed, but
before they have flown. They need not be handled; their wings
are unbroken; their down covering in place to the last scale;
their colours never so brilliant; their markings the plainest
they ever will be; their big pursy bodies full of life; and
they will climb with perfect confidence on any stick, twig, or
limb held before them. Reproductions of them are even more
beautiful than those of birds. By all means photograph them out
of doors on a twig or leaf that their caterpillars will eat. Moths
strengthen and dry very quickly outside in the warm crisp air of
May or June, so it is necessary to have some one beside you with
a spread net covering them, in case they want to fly before you
are ready to make an exposure.
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