CHAPTER VI. 



WHEN DARKNESS HAS FALLEN. 



A TIME of absolute quiet can never be 

 observed in the country. It matters not as 

 to time and season ; there seems to be no 

 general period of repose. There is always 

 something abroad, some creature of the fields 

 and woods, which by its voice or movements is 

 betrayed. Just as in an old rambling house 

 there are always strange noises that cannot be 

 accounted for, so in the by-paths of nature there 

 are innumerable sounds which can never be 

 localised. To those, however, who pursue 

 night avocations in the country gamekeepers, 

 poachers, and others there are always calls and 

 cries which bespeak life as animate under the 

 night as that of the day. This is attributable 

 to various animals and birds, to night-flying 

 insects, and even to fish. Let us track some of 

 these sounds to their source. 



" When comes still evening on, and twilight 



