206 THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE CHAP. 
completely with a carpet of blossom. On the 
lower mountain slopes and in alpine valleys 
trees seem to flourish with peculiar luxuriance. 
Pines and Firs and Larches above; then, as we ~ 
descend, Beeches and magnificent Chestnuts, 
which seem to rejoice in the sweet, fresh air 
and the pure mountain streams. 
T'o any one accustomed to the rich bird life 
of English woods and hedgerows, it must be 
admitted that Swiss woods and Alps seem 
rather lonely and deserted. Still the Hawk, 
or even Kagle, soaring high up in the air, the 
weird cry of the Marmot, and the knowledge 
that, even if one cannot see Chamois, they 
may all the time be looking down on us, give 
the Alps, from this point of view also, a 
special interest of their own. 
Another great charm of mountain districts 
is the richness of colour. “ Consider,’ first, 
the difference produced in the whole tone of 
landscape colour by the introductions of purple, 
violet, and deep ultra-marine blue which we 
owe to mountains. In an ordinary lowland 
landscape we have the blue of the sky; the 
1 Ruskin. 
