102 ANIMALS AND INSECTS 



July nights. iVrouiid the light, whirling and darting, 

 go the large, beautiful moths, the smaller moths, the 

 June bugs, mosquitoes, gnats and countless other 

 insects. Sometimes they are dazed by the bright 

 light or are overcome by the heat so that they fall 

 to the ground, and the toads' tongues quickly catch 

 them. All the while up above, gliding around the 

 pole, in smooth, even circles, go the bats. They fly 

 very swiftly with their mouths wide open, scooping 

 up whole mouthfuls of the bewitched insects. 



These bats are very cunning to look at and. they 

 can be tamed and made into interesting pets. So 

 can the toad, for that matter. Both, we are told, 

 will well repay the time it takes to tame them. 



But it is not as pets, it is as little helpers that we 

 value both the toad and the bat. They take care of 

 the insects for us at night as the birds do by day. 

 Indeed, we little know how many troubles we might 

 have if the birds, the toads, the bats and the spiders 

 did not help us by eating up just as many insects as 

 they could catch. 



Another of our helpers is the owl. He is a strange 

 bird, with face and sometimes ears shaped rather like 

 a cat's and with great, round eyes and a funny beak 

 like a Roman nose. You have all seen pictures of owls, 

 even if you have never seen a real one, so you know 

 what a wise, thoughtful look they have. People 

 often say, ''You look as wise as an owl" when any 

 one sits thinking with his eyes wide open. And the 

 owls surely do look wise as they sit upon a branch of 

 a tree and look at you so gravely. 



The owls, too, are night creatures and sleep by 



