56 Mature Studies in Berfcsbire. 



Pass the chevaux-de-frise of the birches, and 

 work your way down the steep bank for a few rods, 

 and you shall find yourself in the midst of a growth 

 which florists would give much to discover, and 

 which no lover of the woods would ever disclose. 

 It is a splendid patch of maiden-hair ferns, covering 

 many a square rod of the thicket, multiplying and 

 luxuriating in the leaf-enriched soil. Hidden away 

 from the eyes of the careless and the vandal, growing 

 and fruiting and growing again for many a year, these 

 delicate and graceful fronds have possessed them- 

 selves of this spot. It is their homestead. Inherited 

 from generation to generation, the copse is the an- 

 cestral home of this delightful family, where they 

 still rear their bright stems and spread their dainty 

 pinnies unharmed of men. What keener pleasure 

 awaits the wood stroller than such a corner as this, 

 redolent of the life of the finest flower of the shadows, 

 fragrant with the gathered tradition of this family of 

 ferns, whose very presence here attests how rare 

 have been human visits, how largely this place is 

 secured to the dryads and their mysteries ? Is it not 

 worth a walk over the hill-pasture to stumble upon 

 such a woody corner as this ? 



