JUNE. 295 



ing the open blossom-cup of some flower of the night. At 

 this time only can the active habits of these creatures be ob- 

 served, when even the deep shadows do not protect them 

 from the bat, the owl and the goat-sucker, who nightly de- 

 stroy thousands of these beautiful insects, leaving their torn 

 wings and elegant plumage in the green forest path, or lodged 

 upon a leafy branch and marking the place of their destruc- 

 tion. 



As real objects are but faintly seen, by the same cause the 

 phantoms of darkness are made visible. There are many 

 things in the obscurity that assume dubious and mysterious 

 shapes, and excite the curiosity blended with some apprehen- 

 sion. The branches are pictured like the forms of birds and 

 quadrupeds on the sky. and every passing breeze seems to 

 wake them into life and motion. A beam of light appears 

 on the plain, or a shadow on the hill, reminding you of the 

 dusky form of a ghost as it glides half visibly among the in- 

 distinct forms of the trees. On a dark night almost all ob- 

 jects are ambiguous. The trees that stand near the borders 

 of streams cast faint shadows upon them, that are often mis- 

 taken for some real and indefinable objects resting upon their 

 starry surface. Everything that moves reminds you of a 

 spirit; and many are the unintelligible forms that stand 

 around, nodding their heads, and, as it were, beckoning to 

 some kindred monster. You feel as if they were aware of 

 your presence, and were consulting together how they should 

 regard your intrusion into their dusky haunts. At such times 

 the creaking of a dry branch of a tree, when swayed by the 

 Avind, will startle you, like the sudden and unexpected ap- 

 proach of a person behind you. 



As night draws near its close, we begin to long for the 

 morn : and the crowing of cocks from some neighboring farm 

 yard affords a pleasant relief to our weariness, and an assur- 

 ance of the nearness of dawn. The little hair bird, that ut- 

 ters his trilling note at intervals throughout the night, is 

 heard more frequently. At length an occasional twitter from 

 the birds, that everywhere surround us, announces that morn- 

 ing is visible. Nature always gives signs of an approaching 



