THE FAERY YEAR 



as their neighbours, vary much in their autumn 

 character. 



But in the pine woods the brake fern rarely dis- 

 appoints. It passes from green to pallid yellow, 

 and then to warm brown, often each frond in a large 

 patch going through each of these stages before 

 it loses its perfect outline. Far from crumpling up, 

 the whole of many large fronds, turned yellow, will 

 lie almost flat on the air, each indentation sharply 

 defined. This fern yellow is so pale pale at times 

 almost to whiteness that a patch of bracken seen 

 among dark pine holes will give the idea of streaks 

 of sunlight on the ground. I have seen nothing 

 this autumn so surprising as the light of the brake 

 fern in the sombre, hushed pine woods. Along 

 the brow of one wood I saw half an acre of gloom 

 made radiant by the ferns a glorious thing ; and, 

 elsewhere, smaller patches spread in all directions, 

 giving the same illusion of sunlight on a sun- 

 less day. 



Capercailzie, black grouse, Reeves pheasant, and 

 the Japanese pheasant have been introduced, within 

 the last few years, and one day I had the fortune to 

 see all four. I heard, as well as saw, the capercailzie, 

 which for a short time in autumn repeat the cries 

 and the curious " spel " of the spring courting 

 season. Woods artificially populated with wild 

 life want the true charm of those stocked by Nature 

 alone. A plain native is better than a host of 

 splendid aliens. Improvements on Nature in her 

 own domain are mostly meretricious. Yet I admit 

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