128 HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



General appearance. The stem preserves its size with 

 little diminution in diameter for thirty feet or more. At 

 about that height, slender and often contorted branches are 

 produced, which are quite remote from each other. With 

 the straggling, somewhat pendulous, spray into which they 

 end, they form a narrow, round-topped head. 



TJie branchlets are reddish-brown and lustrous the first 

 year ; in the second year they are greenish-gray ; finally they 

 turn dark gray and nearly all are very much roughened by 

 leaf-scars. 



The dark brown buds are covered with a fragrant varnish, 

 and unless already partially developed they are about one- 

 fourth of an inch long and terminate in a rather hard and 

 sharp point. Under each bud a scar is distinctly seen. 

 These scars are the marks left by the falling leaves in 

 autumn. If you take an oak twig and remove the still 

 adhering leaves, fresh leaf-scars can be seen. 



Of course, now we desire to know what these buds con- 

 tain ; and in order to find out, we shall make longitudinal 

 sections of some with a sharp knife, and from others we 

 shall carefully remove the brown varnished scales. We find 

 in some large buds a considerable amount of soft, fuzzy 

 scales and a green body which looks like a small catkin. In 

 the smaller buds, John thinks he sees tiny, greenish leaflets 

 which are very closely packed. I am not quite satisfied 

 with the result of this investigation, and think that our 

 inquiries may be answered more satisfactorily if we examine 

 the buds of the elder, the lilac, and the alternate-leaved cor- 

 nel (Cornus alter nif olid). Now we need no longer be in 

 doubt about the contents of buds. You have all found very 

 small, closed flowers in some, flowers and leaves in others, 

 and in most of them simply leaves. 



Observations. Note the appearance of the following birds, and con- 

 tinue to observe them. 



