178 HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



shaded by dense foliage ; still there are plants which can 

 not only endure shade, but which will not live where they 

 are not shaded. If you transplant ferns, the large yellow 

 lady's-slippers, and many other plants from the woods into 

 your garden, they will die, unless you provide shade for 

 them. Under the giants of the woods, we find many small 

 trees and shrubs, such as wild gooseberries, dogwood, hazel, 

 prickly ash, and others. Here and there we see vines that 

 have climbed up on large trees and some even encircle thick 

 trunks with firm coils ; the latter kind are called twiners. 

 Can you tell how the wild grapevine and the Virginia 

 creeper ascend to the tops of the high trees ? The false 

 bittersweet, which brightens the bushes in the fall with 

 beautiful scarlet fruit, and the wild hops are true twiners. 



All these smaller woody plants constitute the underbrush 

 in woods and forests. This underbrush adds much beauty 

 and variety to the woods, for a whole forest showing nothing 

 but large trees might be grand, but would soon tire our eyes. 



The underbrush is also of much importance to all the deni- 

 zens of the woods. Do you remember where we found the 

 nests of catbirds, thrashers, and warblers ? Where could 

 they hide their nests from their numerous enemies, if vines 

 and plum trees made no dense tangles and hazel and dog- 

 wood formed no thick bushes ? When the young birds are 

 hatched, the numerous insects living on the brush furnish 

 just such tender morsels as the delicate little stomachs can 

 digest. And later in the season, when the young birds can 

 take care of themselves and possibly begin to tire just a 

 little of bugs, grasshoppers, and caterpillars, then the bushes 

 offer bird cherries and chokecherries, wild plums and grapes, 

 raspberries, blackberries, and all kinds of berries. Even in 

 late fall, after the woods have again prepared for their 

 winter rest, the thick, black bunches of the twining moon- 

 seed, the dark blue berries of the Virginia creeper, and 



