104 WILD FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND 



road which has been cut through its midst. Long 

 enough time had passed for nature to soften and 

 level the top, under a layer of turf, woven of 

 rare moorland grasses, over which dainty panicles 

 danced. The curious among the woodland plants 

 leapt up where they could see both ways, and so 

 an ungainly fence was made into a linear garden 

 of wild flowers. To step across is to be with 

 nature. One finds himself under tall, graceful, 

 silver-barked birches. The birch is accommodat- 

 ing. In exposed situations it can shorten itself, 

 and yet remain the chief ornament of its rude, 

 rocky, and elevated sites. The fir hard by is 

 gnarled and twisted by the storms which sweep 

 the mountain - side, though often intensely 

 picturesque and characteristic in its way. The 

 willow becomes stunted, and takes refuge in lowli- 

 ness; the birch clings and cowers with feminine 

 grace or when a woodland tree, as here, it can 

 lengthen itself in competition with the tallest, 

 Until its topmost branches emerge into the upper 

 air and light, even beyond those of the statelier 

 beech, and all without losing aught of its pro- 

 portion. The oak has struggled up, too ; but what 

 an overgrown, long-drawn-out gawk it looks in 

 comparison ! 



