

TIMES AND SEASONS. 



not characterised by silence. Strange and almost 

 unearthly sounds strike the ear of one benighted 

 in the forests of Jamaica. Some of these are the 

 voices of nocturnal birds, the rapid articulations 

 of the nightjars, the monotonous hoot, or shriek, 

 or wail of the owls, the loud impatient screams of 

 the Animus. But besides these, there are some 

 which are produced by reptiles. The gecko creeps 

 stealthy and cat-like from his hollow tree, and 

 utters his harsh cackle ; and other lizards are be- 

 lieved to add to the concert of squeaks and cries. 

 And then there come from the depth of the forest- 

 glooms sounds like the snoring of an oppressed 

 sleeper, but louder; or like the groaning and 

 working of a ship's timbers in a heavy gale at 

 sea. These are produced by great tree-frogs, of un- 

 couth form, which love to reside in the sheathing 

 leaves of parasitic plants, always half full of cool 

 water. These reptiles are rarely seen; but the 

 abundance and universality of the sounds, in the 

 lower mountain-woods, prove how numerous they 

 must be. Occasionally I have heard other strange 

 sounds, as, in particular, one lovely night in June, 

 when lodging at a little lone cottage on a moun- 

 tain-side, in the midst of the woods. About mid- 

 night, as I sat at the open window, there came 

 up from every part of the moonlit forest below, 

 with incessant pertinacity, a clear shrill note, so 

 like the voice of a bird, and specially so like that 

 of the solemn solitaire, that it might easily be 

 mistaken for it, but for the inappropriate hour, 

 and the locality. Like that charming bird-voice, 

 it was beautifully trilled or shaken; and like it, 

 the individual voices were not in the same key. 

 Listening to the mingled sounds, I could distin- 

 guish two particularly prominent, which seemed 

 to answer each other in quick but regular alter- 

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