140 FOEEST CREATURES. 



foliage, or as a mouse or other small creature runs 

 along over the crisp dead leaves which bestrew the 

 ground. The evening bell is heard no longer ; a last 

 *^ chirp " is uttered by some belated bird : the lingering 

 streaks of light have grown pale in the sky ; the even- 

 ing star is already visible, and a grey tint is spreading 

 gradually over all. There is a growing dimness in the 

 air. Nature is already asleep. You are in a realm of 

 profound repose^ of perfect rest ; and it is so strange, so 

 unlike the world of your daily experience, you feel that 

 some great influence must be present, thus so perfectly 

 to have lulled and made so motionless. An undefined 

 sense of awe has sunk into your heart, and you stand 

 and listen to the silence. 



Suddenly you start, for not far off is a rush, and 

 a fluttering and beating of wings, and you look round 

 and see a large black bird rising from the bushes, and 

 alight on a tall fir. There is just light enough to see 

 him distinctly, and you note the tree well ; then wait- 

 ing a little till a deeper shade has fallen over the land- 

 scape, in order not to be seen by him yonder on the 

 tree-top, you bend your steps homeward through the 

 solemn forest. 



Towards morning — but long before dawn — at two 

 or three o'clock generally, and while the stillness yet 

 weighs upon the earth like a superincumbent thing, 

 the cock awakes and begins his peculiar call. Though 



