THE BIRCHES. 89 



paired, its outlines are scrawny, and its strength is 

 lost in the effort to elhow its way above encroaching 

 companions of a more vigorous growth. But place 

 the tree where it has a chance to do its best, and it 

 will develop into astonishingly graceful proportions. 



This birch, is distinguished from its near relatives, 

 by several marked characteristics. Notice the bough 

 where it joins the white trunk ; this triangular brown 

 patch below the branch is always present in any tree 

 of any age. The leaf stem is slender, rather long, 

 and not downy; the leaf (often growing, as in my 

 sketch, in pairs) is very smooth and shiny on both 

 sides; also, the stem being slender the leaf shakes 

 with the slightest breeze, and its varnished surface, 

 reflecting the sunlight, breaks it into shifting, spark- 

 ling green fire. This is no exaggeration of the truth. 

 Watch some tree on the edge of a dark wood on a 

 clear day in early June, when Zephyr is at play 

 among its branches, and the flashes of green light 

 which come and go will fairly dazzle the eyes. 



The white bark is not easily separable into layers, 

 and it lacks that freedom from knotty imperfections 

 which makes the canoe or paper birch so dazzlingly 

 white in broad sunlight. Often in very young trees 

 the bark runs through dark brown to tan color, and 

 only the thickest part of the trunk is sparingly white ; 

 but through all the branches and over the trunk are 



