122 WILD FLOWERS OF 



elegant Birch is arrayed in the most delicate and 

 unsullied frondage. Where birches are numerous in 

 a wood, their aspect in early spring as the young 

 leaves have just expanded, and violets strew the 

 ground below, is very exciting to the observer, while 

 some sound of vernal movement is sure to break upon 

 the ear. In fact one genial April shower has often 

 such a magical effect, that woods and groves will, often 

 in a single day, exchange their sad hibernal aspect for 

 the smiling and exciting look that at once calls us 

 bounding away to the green woods. 



The Beech is a tree that exhibits its delicate young 

 leaves before the close of April, though only scattered 

 trees appear to delight the eye, except where the hills 

 of Gloucestershire and Buckinghamshire rejoice in 

 their extensive beech en groves, splendid in their 

 deep shade and solemn exclusiveness. A pleasing 

 writer has thus alluded to the foliation of the 

 beech woods of Gloucestershire, which is of course 

 applicable to other districts where the beech occurs. 

 " Virgil has elegantly given to the vernal season the 

 epithet of Hushing, because the shoots and buds of 

 trees assume a ruddy appearance previous to throwing 

 out their leaves. This beautiful effect is very obvious 

 in the deep beech woods of Gloucestershire. Unen- 

 livened by that silver rind and those multifarious 

 tintings that diversify the stem and branches of the 

 birch, they present a dreary appearance through the 

 winter months. But in April a slight change of hue 

 becomes perceptible. A casual observer might ascribe 

 it to a drier air, a clearer atmosphere, or to those tran- 

 sient gleams of sunshine which seem to light up the 

 face of nature with a smile. But the effect arises 



