THE NIGHT ANIMALS
Strange as it may appear, in the night the great forest is more alive
with animals than during the day. These night prowlers can only see well
when it is dark, and the darker it is the better they can see. They
generally have short legs and walk so lightly that their footsteps
cannot be heard when they go through the jungle.
They are very sly and most dangerous to other creatures. Most of them
feed on animals that have warm blood, for they love blood, which is to
them as water. They sleep during the day, which is their night, and roam
about during the darkest part of the night, which is their day. It is at
that time that they seek for prey, so they are much dreaded by the
animals that sleep during the night.
Their abodes are in the deep hollows of trees, in holes or gloomy
recesses under their roots, in caverns, in crevasses found among the
rocks, in burrows under fallen trees, and where fallen limbs are piled
upon each other. In a word, they like the places where the light cannot
penetrate, for the light blinds them. They cannot bear the bright
sunshine.
These prowlers do not come out of their abodes to attack their prey
until the night is far advanced, for then the sleep of the day animals
is heaviest, and they do not easily awaken and scent their enemies. One
of the gifts of these night creatures is that they know the hours of the
night just as well as if they had watches or clocks, and they seldom
emerge from their abodes for their raids and depredations before
midnight, and generally return to their dens towards four o’clock in the
morning. If they go out earlier, or return later, it is because hunger
obliges them to do so.
Almost invariably they make their raids singly, so that the pair have
more chance to capture prey. It is wonderful how these night creatures
know their way. They see so well that they go through the thick jungle
as if the sun were shining, and through the intense darkness, they note
every sapling, every branch, every thorny bush, every leaf, every ant,
and, no matter how far they go, they know their way back to their lairs.
This gift of theirs is not possessed by human beings, who have to make
special marks, such as breaking young branches of trees, marking them
back, or putting heaps of leaves, or sticking sticks into the ground to
find their way back.
There are only a few night winged creatures, such as owls, vampires,
bats, flying squirrels, and a few birds; but there are many night
snakes.