148 THE RING OF NATURE 



stumble or halt, and even when he ends on one 

 note starts without a pause on another, and keeps 

 that up, too, till the very listener grows breathless. 



The gloom has come on so that I can only just 

 see one of the night- jars come out from a thicket 

 of guelder-rose and sit toad-like upon the ground, 

 uttering the ' co-eek ' that is their other vocal 

 sound. Then she rises by a miracle from her 

 feeble feet, and on noiseless wing skims over the 

 gate near my face, and goes hawking down the 

 meadow. She skims closely along the tops of 

 the grass whose white campions are shining their 

 brightest in the dusk, and no doubt snatches many 

 a moth that the flowers have called to their banquet. 

 Then the other night- jar joins her and there is 

 a love-game, one chasing the other with wild 

 ' co-eek,' and clapping the wings above his head 

 like applauding hands. 



It is nearly ten o'clock, but with industrious 

 hum a big humble-bee still goes about her work 

 at the blue bugle, which, in the twilight, is of a 

 dull ashy colour. It is not only a workable hour 

 for the humble-bee, but perhaps one of the best 

 as far as honey goes. The hot days dry up the 

 nectar in its cup, and it will be noted that the 

 hive-bees bring in more of both honey and pollen 

 in their first working hours of the morning. 



A bat wambles across the open sky, a large bat 

 flying high, and no doubt a noctule out for its 

 usual evening hunt of only one hour. Yes, there 

 is a small party of them round the chestnut tree 



