On the other hand, don't keep the insects in the killing bottle too long. If you do you will soon have a number, one lying on another, and all tumbled about together while you are on the chase. Of course, under such circumstances you are sure to damage them more or less. Many collectors, although they may always use a killing bottle for moths, never employ one for butterflies, but kill them by pinching the thorax. It is well to know how to do this, for it sometimes turns out to be a really quicker process than that we have just been considering; and, more than this, you can resort to it should you break or lose your bottle while in the field. It is done in this manner: Bring the two opposite sides of the net together, closing them on the insect so that it cannot flutter. If now the wings are brought together over the back, all is right, but if not, give it just a little room to flutter till you have the opportunity of closing the gauze upon it with the wings in the desired position. Now pinch the thorax smartly between the finger and the thumb, applying the pressure outside the net, but be careful not to squeeze the abdomen. In a moment you will find the insect quite dead, and not in the least damaged unless you performed the operation clumsily. Now as to pinning. Hold the dead butterfly between the finger and thumb of the left hand, and pass a pin of convenient size through the centre of the thorax above, and push it through so that the point appears centrally on the under surface. It is now ready for your collecting box. So you work on till the sun begins to get low, and the butterflies become fewer and fewer, till only a few stragglers of common species are to be seen. Still there are a few hours of daylight and perhaps even of bright sunshine before you, and if you are not weary with the work done, you may very profitably spend these hours in the collection and study of the habits of moths. _Catching Moths by Day_ The reason for choosing the sunny hours for butterfly collecting is obvious, all these lovers of brightness being then actively on the wing; and although many may be driven out of their hiding places by beating the herbage with the handle of your net, or even be searched out as they rest on stalks and leaves during dull days or at morning and evening twilight, yet such methods are comparatively tedious and unproductive.