92 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



night, not continuously, but at intervals. They 

 leave the district early in the autumn, about the end 

 of August or early September. 



Ill 



LIGHT GIVERS 



ALTHOUGH Britain can show no parallel either in 

 number or brilliance to the living lights of the 

 Tropics, we are not without several interesting 

 phosphorescent creatures of our own. Those whose 

 business leads them abroad in the fields and woods 

 through the short summer nights are often treated 

 to quite remarkable luminous sights. Last night 

 I was lying on a towering limestone escarpment, 

 waiting to intercept a gang of poachers. The dark- 

 ness was dead and unrelieved, and a warm rain 

 studded every grass-blade with moisture. When 

 the day and sun broke, this would, I knew, glow with 

 a million brilliant prismatic colours then suddenly 

 vanish. But the illumination came sooner, and in a 

 different way. The rain ceased, and hundreds of 

 tiny living lights lit up the sward. In the intense 

 darkness these shone with an unusual brilliancy, 

 and lit up the almost impalpable moisture. Every 

 foot of ground was studded with its starlike gem, 

 which twinkled and shone as the fireflies stirred 

 in the grass. The sight was quite an un-English 



