AUTUMN WILD FKUITS. 33 



flat on a horizontal Jimb and begins a quiet pe- 

 riod of surveillance over my movements. Sun- 

 day it is, and no gun visible, which facts, per- 

 chance, have given him courage to come so close 

 and scold so defiantly at my intrusion on his 

 domain. 



The fruit of the flowering dogwood 4 has not 

 yet assumed that bright scarlet hue, which will 

 render it so noticeable and attractive a fortnight 

 from now. It, and those of the bitter-sweet, the 

 wahoo and the strawberry bush, rank foremost 

 in beauty among all wild fruits of our autumn 

 shrubs and vines. When the hoar frost is late 

 in appearance, the leaves of both dogwood and 

 wahoo gradually ripen until the former are a 

 bright scarlet and the latter a beautiful pinkish- 

 purple in color. The pendent fruit of the wa- 

 hoo is of the same hue until the touch of the 

 frost causes it to open and expose the scarlet 

 arils. 



That squirrel is the most inquisitive one of its 

 kind I ever met. I hear a rustling just over 

 my head and, glancing up, behold him on a 



'Cornus florida L. 

 (3) 



