198 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



Now again Autumn gathers her 

 thread in armsful. The sassafras is 

 shedding its variegated mittens, and 

 the hickory and walnut their sere yel- 

 lows; the chestnut leaves are rusty, 

 though the burrs are green; the barberry 

 hangs full of fruit, the purple-berried 

 cornel also; and the white baneberry, 

 the orange-red bitter-sweet, red alder, 

 wintergreen, and creeping partridge 

 vine abound. Berries everywhere, how 

 do they escape the birds? The cau- 

 tious birds know what will keep the 

 best, and so eat the more substantial 

 food when they can find it. There are 

 yet small, rich seeds, grubs, larvae, and 

 belated worms, to be preferred to 

 berries. Yellow birds linger where the 

 sunflowers hold their brown-seeded 

 combs; how much nourishment and 

 cold-repelling strength lies in these 

 oily seeds! and why should catbirds 



