A SUMMER NIGHT IN THE WOODS. 223 



The night would afford no mean employment to the 

 naturalist, if he could observe the midnight operations of 

 the still wakeful part of animated nature. There are 

 many nocturnal insects which, though not easily discov- 

 ered in the darkness, are then in motion, hovering among 

 the foliage, or seeking the open blossom-cup of some 

 ilower of the night. At this time only can the active 

 habits of these creatures be observed, when even the deep 

 shadows do not protect them from the bat, the owl, and 

 the goat-sucker, who nightly destroy thousands of these 

 beautiful insects, leaving their torn wings and elegant 

 plumage in the green forest paths, or lodged upon a leafy 

 branch, marking the place of their destruction. 



As real objects are but faintly seen, by the same cause 

 the phantoms of darkness are made visible. There are 

 many things in the obscurity that assume dubious and 

 formless appearances, and excite the curiosity, blended 

 with some apprehension. The branches are pictured 

 like the forms of birds and quadrupeds on the sky, and 

 every passing breeze seems to wake them into life and 

 motion. A beam of light appears on the plain, or a 

 shadow on the hill, reminding you of the dusky form of 

 a ghost as it glides half visibly among the indistinct forms 

 of the trees. On a dark night almost all objects are am- 

 biguous. The trees that stand near the borders of streams 

 cast faint shadows upon them, often mistaken for some 

 real objects resting upon their starry surface. Everything 

 that moves reminds you of a spirit ; and many are the un- 

 intelligible forms that stand around, nodding their heads, 

 and, as it were, beckoning to some kindred monster. You 

 feel as if they were aware of your presence, and were con- 

 sulting together how they should regard your intrusion 

 into their dusky haunts. 



As night draws near its close, we begin to long for the 

 morning ; and the crowing of cocks from some distant 



