330 



XXIV. 



NOVEMBER 1st. 



Clear bright Weather of Autumn unlike that of Summer. — Beautiful 

 Forms of Frost. — Hoar Frost on Grass. — Skeleton of Leaves. — 

 Migratory Birds. — Tamarack. — Insects. — Autumnal Flow of Sap. 

 — Resort of Butterflies. — Firefly. — Criuking of Grylli. — Carab. — 

 Moths. — Ichneumon. — Snake. — Frogs. — Ruffed Grouse — its mode 

 of Flight — Food, «&c. 



Father. — This is a delightful day ; the air is clear, 

 fresh, and bracing ; the sunshine is bright and unclouded ; 

 yet how totally unUke summer ! its character is exclusively 

 its own, but yet we cannot readily tell in what it consists ; 

 we feel and see intuitively the great difference, but do not at 

 first see what causes it. The pleasant breeze, the bright 

 blue sky, the warm sun, are the same ; the ground dry and 

 hard with frost, has the same solidity and appearance as if 

 parched with heat ; — yet if we consider minutely, we shall 

 find its peculiarity consists in the stillness that prevails ; there 

 seems to be a general death pervading the woods, the fields, 

 and even the very air. If we call or shout, our voices seem 

 unnaturally loud, and a hollow echo is all the sound returned ; 

 then the same deathy stillness prevails again. In summer 

 the woods are full of little twittering musicians, glancing 

 from bough to bough, which, even when they do not sing, 

 continually, by their unceasing activity, break the still silence. 

 The quivering leaves, with the light ever glittering through 



