284 SHARP EYES 



carrot, that manages to hold a generous remnant of 

 seeds in its withered nest all winter. No. 2 needs no 

 magnifying- glass, being a large hairy burr, nearly the 

 size of a hazel-nut, and armed with cruel thorns, a seed 

 of the hedgehog grass, and not a pleasant thing to han- 

 dle. No. 3 we all recognize as the same two-pronged 

 "beggar-tick" that is so fond of our clothes in the late 

 summer. No. 4 is the urn-shaped kernel of the ragweed. 

 No. 5, the large samara of the elm, though you will find 

 few of them in the winter. No. 6, a pine seed. No. 7, 

 a buttercup seed. No. 8, with its rough conical body 

 and fine-toothed crown, is the pretty seed of the sneeze- 

 weed, which certainly deserves a place among our mead- 

 ow snuff. No. 9 has come from a sedge. No. 10 was 

 blown from the ash -tree, perhaps half a mile away. 

 No. 1 1 will be remembered as another of those friendly 

 " beggar- ticks." No. 12 was once in the centre of a 

 may- weed blossom. No. 13 is one of that fluttering 

 swarm from the seed cone of the tulip-tree. In No. 14 

 we have the dainty packet which holds the seed treas- 

 ure of the pig-weed. The tooth-crowned fruit of cich- 

 ory is shown at 15; a wingless milk-weed seed at 16; 

 that of the smart-weed at 17. And we leave the read- 

 er to guess at the long line of other representatives 

 from grasses and sedges and other sources ; and, like 

 my little flock of birds, to take his pick among them. 



