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EN 
CECROPID 
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gy 
ath 
Atalapha, a Winged Brownie 
tion. He knew the booming hoot of the Horned 
Owl and the screech of the early Pigeon Hawk. 
He could dart at full speed, without touching, 
through an opening but little wider than one wing. 
He could comb his left side with his right thumbnail. 
He learned to enjoy teasing the great clumsy 
Nighthawks; and when he saw one spreading its 
enormous gape to close on some fat basilona, he 
loved to dart between and in a spirit of mischief 
and sport to bear the coveted morsel away. All 
Great Northern Bats are marvellous on the wing, 
but Atalapha was a marvel among the young of 
his kind. He rejoiced in the fullness of his speed. 
He gloried in the strength of his wings, and—shall 
\I tell it?-—he became a little puffed up. Because 
i” 
ré/ he pleased his mother, and was a little abler than 
his mates and had taken with credit the first steps 
in the life journey, he reckoned himself a very 
important being; and he thought he knew it all. 
He had an awakening. 
THE COMING OF THE BRIDEGROOMS 
With the closing of the Thunder Moon Atalapha 
found himself not only independent of his mother, 
but also that she, in yet a larger sense, was becom- 
158 
