confuses the mind. The fires which, travellers
make for their protection actually serve to attract
the beasts of prey, but the confusion and fear caused
by the bright glare makes it safe for the traveller
to lie down and sleep in the light. Mammals do
not lose their heads altogether, because they are
walking on firm ground where muscular exertion and
an exercise of judgment are necessary at every step;
whereas birds floating buoyantly and with little effort
through the air are quickly bewildered. Incredible
numbers of migratory birds kill them-selves by dashing
against the windows of lighthouses; on bright moonlight
nights the voyagers are comparatively safe; but during
dark cloudy weather the slaughter is very great; over
six hundred birds were killed by striking a lighthouse
in Central America in a single night. On insects
the effect is the same as on the higher animals:
on the ground they are attracted by the light, but
keep, like wolves and tigers, at a safe distance from
it; when rushing through the air and unable to keep
their eyes from it they fly into it, or else revolve
about it, until, coming too close, their wings are
singed.
I find that when I am on horseback, going at a swinging
gallop, a bright light affects me far more powerfully
than when I am trudging along on foot. A person
mounted on a bicycle and speeding over a level plain
on a dark night, with nothing to guide him except
the idea of the direction in his mind, would be to
some extent in the position of the migratory bird.
An exceptionally brilliant ignis fatuus flying before
him would affect him as the gleam of a lamp placed
high above the surface affects the migrants:
he would not be able to keep his eyes from it, but
would quickly lose the sense of direction, and probably
end his career much as the bird does, by breaking
his machine and perhaps his bones against some unseen
obstruction in the way.
FACTS AND THOUGHTS ABOUT SPIDERS.
Some time ago, while turning over a quantity of rubbish
in a little-used room, I disturbed a large black spider.
Rushing forth, just in time to save itself from destruction
through the capsizing of a pile of books, it paused
for one moment, took a swift comprehensive glance at
the position, then scuttled away across the floor,
and was lost in an obscure corner of the room.
This incident served to remind me of a fact I was
nearly forgetting, that England is not a spiderless
country. A foreigner, however intelligent, coming
from warmer regions, might very easily make that mistake.
In Buenos Ayres, the land of my nativity, earth teems
with these interesting little creatures. They
abound in and on the water, they swarm in the grass
and herbage, which everywhere glistens with the silvery
veil they spin over it. Indeed it is scarcely
an exaggeration to say that there is an atmosphere
of spiders, for they are always floating about invisible
in the air; their filmy threads are unfelt when they
fly against you; and often enough you are not even
aware of the little arrested aeronaut hurrying over
your face with feet lighter than the lightest thistledown.
