244 AUSTIN TIDE. 



AUG. 31. St. RoMANus NoNNATUs, c. A.D. 1240. 



St. Isabel, virgin, 1270. 



St. Cathburge, queen, virgin and abbess, 8th cent. 



St. Aidan of Ireland, bishop, 651. 



Obs. St. Raymond was born at Portel in the year 1204. He 

 took the habit in the order of Our Lady of Mercy, and was admit- 

 ted to his profession at Barcelona by the holy founder St. Peter 

 JVolasco. He was nominated cardinal by Pope Gregory IX., who, 

 being desirous to have so holy a man about his person, called him to 

 Rome, but our saint went no farther than Cardona, he being seized 

 with a violent fever, which terminated his life on the 31st of August, 

 in the year 1240, the thirty seventh of his age. 



Autumnal Flos Adonis Adonis autumnalis fl. 



Blackberry Rubris /ruticosus in fruit. 



With the close of August a great number of changes take place 

 indicative of the approach of autumn. The hterries generally ripen 

 and appear red in the hedges, Pears and Apples and other autum- 

 nal fruits get ripe, and Nuts are gathered. The leaves of the Elm, 

 Lime, Horse Chesnut, of the Willows, and even of the Birch and 

 Beech, begin to turn yellow, and some of them to come off, the fall 

 of the leaf being a phenomenon that from this time gradually in- 

 creases till the general fall, which takes place about Allhallowtide. 

 During this period, too, that is between Bartholomewtide and the 

 Allhallowtide, the forest exhibits the most varied and picturesque 

 colours, from the most luxuriant green to the brown of the decayed 

 leaf; besides which, the foliage of some trees being of a bluer and 

 others of a yellower verdure, this variety goes on still further vary- 

 ing as the leaves of each gradually decay, and thus in a grove of 

 mixed trees we may see almost innumerable shades and mixtures of 

 colour during the period which we are describing. The subsequent 

 period elapsing between Allhallows and St. Catherine's Day, with 

 its alternations of calm fogs by day and violent gales by night, 

 usually sweeps off the remaining foliage, and deprives the woods of 

 their leafy honours. Oaks and a few Beeches and Hornbeams re- 

 taining their dead leaves. The student of the forest should begin 

 his examination of trees in April, and watch the whole progress of 

 blossoming and leafing of each, and afterwards of their respective 

 fructification, and the decay and fall of the leaf. In winter Gilpin 

 recommends the study of the configurations of the spray. 



Small birds are by this time generally congregated in large flocks. 



Tomorrow hunting and sporting of all kinds begin. 



