314 rOEEST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



by the larch, and the dark Indian-red of the leaves of 

 the oak and whortleberry. 



Then comes the Indian summer — a season of dreamy 

 delight, when a warm, hazy atmosphere mellows the 

 rich brown foreground and distant blue hills of the 

 woodland picture, and all nature seems to bask in a calm 

 serenity. The hermit thrush now warbles forth his fare- 

 well from the spruce groves ; the robins congregate on 

 the barrens, busily picking the remains of the berry-har- 

 vest ere their departure for the south ; and the squirrels 

 and wood-marmots hasten into their granaries their 

 winter supplies of acorns and beech-mast. 



November is not far advanced before cold northerly 

 winds and black frosts remove all traces of the beautiful 

 fall. The bear and the marmot hybernate ; the moose 

 select their winter yards ; the last detachments of 

 lingering robins depart, and the retreating columns of 

 wild geese are soon followed by the fierce driving storm, 

 which buries the hard-frozen ground under the first snows 

 of the long American winter. Yarjdng in intensity of cold 

 and general changeableness of climate, according to dis- 

 tance from the sea and the influence of the gulf stream, 

 the winter drags on with but little to mark the monotony 

 of its course. On the sea-board of the maritime pro- 

 vinces snow and rain constantly succeed each other, and 

 fields and clearings are often buried and as often bared ; 

 but back in the woods even the long January thaw, 

 which is of regular occurrence in these regions, makes 

 but little impression on the steadily accumulating snow. 



The summer birds have all left, and the frogs are deeply 

 buried beneath the mud at the bottom of ponds. On 

 the smooth white surface, which is spread over his former 



