AN OCTOBER DIARY. 865 



wishes most to see are nocturnal. Curious as it may 

 seem, very many animals are more strictly noctur- 

 nal than those which are ordinarily referred to as such. 

 Thus we speak of owls and bats as nocturnal. In 

 reality they are crepuscular, for they do not keep on 

 the wing all night, unless it is moonlight ; while musk- 

 rats, weasels, opossums, 'coons, and mice are often on the 

 go from the setting of the sun until dawn. I have had 

 particularly good opportunities of investigating this 

 matter with reference to nearly all the mammals of the 

 neighborhood, and found that even when, as very rarely 

 occurs, there is an absolute darkness animals may be 

 abroad. Of, course, however excellent their vision, for 

 the time being they were blind, and guided solely by 

 the combined action of the senses of smell, hearing, and 

 touch. Rapid locomotion would be impracticable, but safe 

 progress perfectly feasible. Animals are often trapped 

 on such pitch-black nights, which is incontestable proof 

 of their having left their lairs. The traps were set by 

 lantern-light, long after sunset, and visited before the 

 first intimation of dawn. If any one doubts this, let 

 him wrap himself in a blanket and sit from midnight to 

 dawn in the woods. Timid people need not try this, as 

 they will see and hear strange creatures at the rate of a 

 menagerie a minute ; but a naturalist can convince him- 

 self that there is considerable activity in the animal 

 world. The cries — conversation, I take it — and footsteps 

 over the dead leaves can be heard, and the occasional 

 leap from a tree to the ground is a movement that can- 

 not be mistaken, although only heard. 



There was an absolutely dark night, a year ago this 



