294 STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



cumstances, combined with his fabled reputation for 

 wisdom, and his demure and solemn expression of 

 countenance, have conspired to render the owl one of 

 the most picturesque of all living creatures. 



The bat is another creature, in some respects, of simi- 

 lar habits and reputation. Like the owl, it naturally 

 seeks, for its retreat during the day, those unfrequented 

 places where it is not liable to be disturbed, and has 

 acquired a character and expression in harmony with 

 the scenes it frequents. But it is remarkable that 

 while the owl has obtained an emblematical character 

 for wisdom, the bat is regarded as the emblem of guilt. 

 He is represented as shunning the broad eye of day, and 

 as flying out on leathern wing, after the dusky shades 

 of evening may serve to hide him from detection. 

 The sight of the bat, however, is far from awakening 

 in our minds the idea of guilt; but his image is 

 strongly suggestive of the pleasant serenity of evening, 

 as the butterfly reminds us of summer fields and 

 flowers. Our ideas of the bat are somewhat grotesque; 

 and when, after the graceful swallow has retired to rest, 

 we observe his irregular and zigzag flight, we are una- 

 voidably reminded of his peculiar hideous formation, 

 from which the idea of making him an emblem of guilt 

 probably originated. It would seem as if he hid him- 

 self during the day, lest his relationship to a race of be- 

 ings now almost banished from the earth might be dis- 

 covered. His emblematical character does not prevent 

 his forming an interesting feature in a rural scene. 

 Hence in pictorial re])resentations of evening, we see 

 the last rays of the sun streaming upward in beautiful 

 radiations from behind a hill, while the bat is flittine 

 about an old house, in a rude and rather quiet land- 

 scape. 



