A NIGHT OUT 147 



JULY 



A NIGHT OUT 



THE long hot days followed by nights almost 

 as warm, though not so garish, bring 

 about a reversal of instincts almost throughout 

 the natural world. The rabbits that in winter 

 fed by day and retired at dusk now feed by night 

 and keep out of sight between dawn and dusk. 

 Birds, cheerful enough at dawn, mope in the 

 thick leafage at midday and long for the evening. 

 Snakes no longer seek out the sunniest places, 

 and only reach their fullest activity as the sun 

 goes down. Only those torrid beings, the insects, 

 are active at midday, and at this time of year 

 the great majority of summer lepidoptera are 

 night-flying moths. 



The night-jar is spinning his long-winded rattle- 

 note in the larch copse. It is always a marvel to 

 me that he can hold the one note so long, especially 

 as in my own experience a note with an r-r-r in 

 it is the most expensive in breath that we can be 

 called upon to produce. But he rattles on without 



