A SUMMER MORNING AT THE SENTINELS. 



It is early morning and I am up and out enjoying the beauty 

 of nature. I often think that in order to live fully one must have 

 his home in the country and rise early. To me it seems as 

 though the developing of the day was the most glorious thing in 

 all the splendid pageant of nature. 



It is very early, only the faintest flush shows in the northeast, 

 and it is hard to say whether it is daylight or the zodiacal light. 

 The day birds are not awake yet, but one is likely to hear the 

 strange, discordant cry of the chuck- will's-widow somewhere off 

 in the forest. This bird is one of the early harbingers of our 

 spring; in April and May the night is often a babel of its shrill 

 music, so much so that sleep is at times impossible on account of it. 

 As soon as the rains begin it becomes less in evidence and usu- 

 ally by this time (early August), unless the season is dry, as it 

 is this year, it is rarely heard. Once in awhile the note of the 

 rare but more pleasant voiced whip-poor-will is heard here but 

 it is mostly replaced in the Southeastern states by the chuck- will's- 

 widow, its near relative. 



The monotonous churr of a variety of nocturnal insects fills the 

 air, and to me these are most delightful sounds. They are pro- 

 duced by crickets and various other Orthoptera and wherever 

 one goes, whether in the tropical or temperate regions, he is 

 pretty sure to hear them during the warmer part of the year. 

 Another musician whose notes may be heard here by night or 

 day is the tree frog. These little fellows make their homes in 

 the trumpet-like bases of the great Allamanda blossoms and 

 their call is supposed to be a prophesy of rain. It is a sort of 

 hybrid between a croak and a quack, yet to me it is sweeter 

 than the music of the masters. 



Out in the hammock there is but little hint of the approach- 

 ing day, for it is as dark as at midnight. Here and there one 

 sees a glow worm vainly endeavoring to dispel the darkness. 

 The lightning bugs are not in evidence at this time of the year 



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