170 NEIGHBOURS UNKNOWN 



ing flights, which, beginning near the top of 

 one tree, would end generally near the foot of 

 another, as far away as the impetus of their 

 start and their descent would allow. Thence 

 they would dart nimbly to the top again, 

 sometimes with a restrained chirr of mirth, 

 to repeat the gay adventure. Sometimes, 

 when their descent was steep, they would 

 rise again toward the end of it, by altering, 

 probably, the angle of their membranes or 

 side-planes. As they flashed spectrally past 

 each other, touched suddenly by some white 

 finger of moonlight, their play was like an 

 aerial game of tag. But they never actually 

 " tagged " each other. Most likely they 

 took good care to avoid any approach to 

 contact in mid flight, which might have 

 meant a fall to the dangerous forest-floor, 

 the haunt of prowling foxes, skunks, and 

 weasels. 



But though their thief dread seemed to be 

 of the far dark ground and its perils, there 

 were perils, too, for the little aeronauts 

 even in their leafy heights. In the midst 

 of their leaping, gliding and sailing, there 

 came a hollow cry across the tree-tops. It 

 was a melancholy sound but full of menace 

 a whoo-hoo-hoo-oo-oo repeated at long, uncer- 

 tain, nerve-racking intervals. It sounded 



