AN AUTUMN PICTURE 



comes crashing down among the withered oak leaves ! 

 A jay utters its harsh scream in the woods behind 

 us ; and a flight of rooks sail over our heads, cawing 

 as they go, their black wings moving lazily in their 

 homeward flight. A cock pheasant crows lustily, 

 and then repeats the cry, as if to let us know he is 

 there a conceited bird ; but doubtless his wives 

 think what a fine fellow he is as he struts among 

 them with his glossy green head and radiant 

 plumage ! A covey of partridges are calling to 

 each other among the clover. But these sounds of 

 nature seem to merely deepen, not disturb, the 

 silence of the evening. 



Ah ! here is the first roe -a doe, and in her winter- 

 coat. The pretty ruddy colour of the summer 

 months has changed to a dark brown, with a white 

 patch on the hind-quarters. It seems strange, 

 when one first thinks of it, that the colour of an 

 animal should change completely with the time of 

 year ; but look carefully at a roebuck in the woods 

 at the different seasons, and you will see the reason. 

 That ruddy coat of summer harmonizes perfectly 

 with the trunks of the firs themselves ruddy in 

 the rays of the sun that come filtering through their 

 branches ; or melts into the background of scrub- 

 oak so well, that it is only after some minutes' 

 consideration that one is sure one sees an animal 

 at all. And in winter, when the fir trees are dark 



in 



