MOORLAND IDYLLS. 



convenience, an early form of that consorting 

 for purposes of common advantage which 

 reaches at last its highest development in 

 the nest of ants, with their associated beetles 

 and their cow-like aphides. 



Here in England, our night-jar is but a 

 summer migrant, a visitor to the moors 

 while insects abound ; and we listen for 

 him eagerly in warm May weather. He 

 comes to us from South Africa, where he 

 winters among the Zulus, or, rather, escapes 

 the chill of winter altogether in the opposite 

 hemisphere. For he must have insects, 

 flying insects on the wing, and plenty of 

 them. We welcome his first churring among 

 the pines and bracken as a sign of summer ; 

 for he is a prudent bird, and seldom makes 

 a mistake, knowing the marks of the 

 weather well, like Mr. Robert Scott, and 

 delaying his arrival till insects have hatched 

 out in sufficient numbers from the cocoons 

 over the heather-clad uplands. You see 

 him but rarely, for he loves the dusk, and, 



6 



