24S 



NATURE'S CALENDAR 



November 22 



with vello\v-p;reen flowers, with petals re- 

 sembling ribbons which shine against the 

 sun like clusters of golden stars. 



"Am surprised," Thoreau remarks on 

 October i6th, "to find an abundance of 

 witch - hazel now at the height of its 

 change"; but in the lower Hudson valley 

 this appearance does not come until No- 

 vember. " The tallest bushes," he con- 

 tinues, "are bare, though in bloom; but 

 the lowest are full of leaves, many of them 

 green, but chiefly clear and handsome yel- 

 low of various shades, from a pale lemon 

 in the shade, or within the bush, to a 

 darker and warmer yellow without. Some 

 have even a hue of crimson ; some are 

 green with bright yellow along the veins." 



The moths and butterflies have largely 

 died, leaving eggs or cocoons to produce 

 their kind in the spring, and other insects 

 decrease rapidly as frosts increase, but 

 many still live and enliven the sunny 

 places. One hears the loud calling of the 

 mole crickets, and hosts of gnats and tiny 

 flies. dance in the yellow light. Every- 

 where, too, we catch the gleam of gos- 

 samer — mere streaks of glistening light, 

 and our clothing and faces get covered 

 with the silken fibres as we push through 

 the weeds, that lend us more beggar's lice 

 than we want. 



But the most noticeable insects of this 

 month, probably, are the crickets. They 

 abound in open places like pastures, and 

 as cold weather draws on all that persist 



November 23 



