98 



especially in the southern counties of England ; in this district it 

 is not so common : some years you will scarcely see one, in others 

 they are tolerably numerous, but never in such numbers as to 

 cause any great damage. I have had the insect brought to me 

 many times by gardeners and others as something curious, to see 

 if I could tell them its name. The Nightjar captures great numbers 

 of these, and for this service alone ought to be protected. In my 

 entomological days, whilst sugaring for insects in one of the 

 beautiful ferny glades of Barron Wood, two Nightjars played sad 

 havoc amongst the moths ; the time we were waiting for darkness 

 to set in, they snapped them up as fast as they appeared flying 

 down the glade. The weird and ghost-like flight of the birds, as 

 they flew ever and anon in their zig-zaggy way up and down the 

 ride, combined with the stillness of the woods, left a lasting 

 impression on my youthful mind. I see them now in my mind's 

 eye after the lapse of many years. 



What strange unearthly sounds you hear in the depths of the 

 woods at night, especially near the river side : the lap-lapping and 

 murmuring of the water on the pebbles, the whistle of the otter, 

 various cries of night birds, the "toowhoo" of the owl, the hum of 

 night-flies, and the different noises caused by predatory animals on 

 the lookout for their prey, and also the little sweetheartings that 

 are always going on amongst them in those parts. The eye of the 

 naturalist peers into places where other people would scarcely deign 

 to look. The ear also requires to be practised as well as the eye, 

 and night is the best time to train it ; for then you can put it to 

 Nature's key-hole, as it were, and hear all her mysterious sounds, 

 and make out what they mean. We have overheard a pair of 

 Water Voles engage in a very gentle and affectionate whispering, 

 if I may call it so, beneath the willows upon which we were 

 standing. The old, old story was evidently being rehearsed under 

 there ; but the occasional splashing of the cold water made their 

 courting appear like very chilling business — still we all know it is 

 not so. Even in the calmest nights of summer there is now and 

 then a gentle moaning among the leaves in the woods, as if some 

 restless spirit was wandering among the tree tops. A naturalist 



i 



