As Evening Darkens. 61 



Here and there another much calumniated wood- 

 lander, the badger, has come out for his evening stroll. 

 In spite of his dull grey coat, the white streaks on his 

 head make him very conspicuous even in the dusk, 

 but he is shy of being watched, and is withal very fleet 

 of foot, and is not often seen in the open. 



The bats that all day long have been hanging by 

 their claws head downwards, and folded up tight and 

 motionless within their leathery wings, emerge from 

 dark niches in church towers, or hollows of trees, or 

 the dim recesses of caves, and with noiseless flight 

 flutter up and down, uttering now and then that faint, 

 sharp cry which from its very shrillness many persons 

 are quite unable to hear. 



Whole tribes of insects avoid the daylight, and 

 become active only in the dusk. 



There are many moths which fly by day the 

 brilliant red cinnabar and the glossy burnet are fond 

 of the sun. 



The humming-bird hawk-moth is another daylight 

 flier. Her attitudes are very suggestive of the bird 

 whose name she bears, and one is not altogether sur- 

 prised at her being sometimes mistaken for something 

 more highly organized than an insect. Now on rapidly 

 vibrating wings she poises herself before a flower, 

 while her long trunk, held straight before her like a 

 beak, is plunged into the honey-laden corolla. Now 

 with sudden movement she darts away almost too 

 swiftly for the eye to follow. 



