WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



between these helpless, shapeless delvers after 

 earthworms and the marvellously agile bats, that, 

 by a modification of the forelimbs at the other 

 extreme, flit and tumble boozily about us in the 

 dusk, or chase dodging moths by the light of the 

 moon. Country people warn you that should a bat 

 get into your hair dreadful things would follow; 

 but who has had such an experience? I feel that 

 the thatch of my head is safe from such intrusion 

 as safe as are my ears from invasion by deviFs- 

 darning-needles. By-the-way, did one ever see a 

 bat catch a dragon-fly? That would be an acro- 

 batic performance worth risking much malaria to 

 witness. Swallows can do it. 



Most small mammals, in fact, are mainly noc- 

 turnal, owing to the competition of more powerful 

 beasts, that has acted against them in a double 

 way first, by direct antagonism ; and, second, in- 

 directly, by forcing the prey of the smaller and 

 weaker brethren into a nocturnal life. The re- 

 action of this, however, compels the larger ones 

 to hunt principally during the darker hours. 



This is one reason why we meet so few of the 

 woodland quadrupeds in our walks. Not many, 

 to be sure, are there to be seen, even if we did not 

 scare them out of sight by our noise. They can 



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