224 A SUMMER NIGHT IN THE WOODS. 



farm-yard affords a pleasant relief to our weariness and an 

 assurance of the nearness of dawn. The little hairbird, 

 that utters his trilling note at intervals throughout the 

 night, is heard more frequently. At length an occasional 

 twitter from the birds all around us announces that morn- 

 ing is visible. Nature always gives signs of an approaching 

 change, and morning dawn and evening twilight have 

 their respective harbingers ; and she usually accompanies 

 them with peculiar sounds from the elements and from 

 animated things. Thus by the croaking of the tree-toad 

 at noonday she augurs an approaching shower, by the 

 chirping of the green nocturnal treehopper she proclaims 

 the approach of autumn ; but the birds are Nature's fa- 

 vorite sentinels, whom she employs to herald the morn. 



If we now take our stand on an eminence where we 

 can obtain a clear view of the eastern horizon, a luminous 

 appearance may be observed, forming a semicircle of dim 

 whitish light around the brows of Morning. If a thin 

 veil of clouds overspread the arch, the tints will be dark 

 in proportion to their distance from the hidden source of 

 light. Imagine it divided into circles. The inner one 

 will be of a light yellow, the next a tint of gold ; beyond 

 that is orange, and as it extends outward it passes through 

 a gradation of vermilion, crimson, purple, and violet, until 

 it melts into the azure of the firmament. 



