THE COUNTRY LIFE. 235 



autumn, after the black berries appeared upon 

 it, the leaves became a rich bronze colour, and 

 some when the first frosts touched them, curled 

 up at the edge and turned crimson. There 

 were two or three guelder-rose bushes the 

 wild shrub which were covered in June with 

 white bloom ; not in snowy balls like the 

 garden variety, but flat and circular, the florets 

 at the edge of the circle often whitest, and 

 those in the centre greenish. In autumn the 

 slender boughs were weighed down with heavy 

 bunches of large purplish berries, so full of 

 red juice as to appear on the point of bursting. 

 As these soon disappeared they were doubtless 

 eaten by birds. 



" Besides the hawthorn and briar there were 

 several species of willow the snake-skin 

 willow, so called because it sheds its bark ; 

 the ' snap-willow,' which is so brittle that 

 every gale breaks off its feeble twigs, and 

 pollards. One of these, hollow and old, had 

 upon its top a crowd of parasites. A bramble 

 had taken root there, and hung over the side ; 

 a small currant-bush grew freely both, no 

 doubt, unwittingly planted by birds and 



