134 
NESTS AND EGGS OF 
the forest-shades, when night has thrown her sable curtain o’er earthly 
landscapes, is the first reminder that we have of their mysterious presence. 
Like an evil genius from the land of dreams they come among us to dis- 
turb our slumbers by their lugubrious utterances. But in the daytime, 
when all respectable beings, whether beast or man, do most delight to be 
seen and heard, these sylph-like denizens of the air shrink away to the 
uncertain shadows of the grove, where they spend their time in sleep, or 
moody silence, or, mayhap, in the concocting of ways to terrify poor, 
timid human beings. Coming down from these flights of imagination to 
the prose of real life, we may truthfully say, that they “ love darkness 
rather than light.” From the time of their first appearance during the 
early nights of May until their departure in August or September for 
the Gulf country and the land stretching southward, they maintain the 
same shy and retired disposition, concealing themselves from the glare of 
full-orbed day in close-set forests among fallen leaves and underbrush, and 
only venturing out in quest of food when the sun has sought his rosy 
couch beyond the Western wave. With the setting of the day-star, and 
the stir of the myriads of moths that now make night lively with their 
graceful motions and riotings, these Night-jars, as they are sometimes 
appropriately called, emerge from their hiding-places, and rejoice in wanton 
and luxurious feasting. They are far from being the dull, stupid beings 
which we would have been disposed to designate them only a few hours 
before. They are now all nimbleness and grace. Watch them as they 
sail through the bending, swaying ether as noiselessly as a thistle-down, 
and as lightly as a balloon afloat, and tell us were there ever more grace- 
ful creatures, and any better adapted to the purposes of their being? W^e 
apprehend not. What a beautiful and nice adaptation of means to end is 
here exemplified ! Being designed and created to hold in check, in com- 
mon with others of their kin, the various and multitudinous swarms of 
insects which fill the nocturnal atmosphere, the Wisdom that never errs 
has given them a peculiar structure, and peculiar habits. They must seek 
the darkness of night, and shun the light of day. And in order to cap- 
