ANIMAL LIFE IN THE WOODS 179 



the crimson fruit of the false bittersweet will catch your 

 eye. 



In some thick brush the young cottontail rabbits have 

 their layer ; there the doe also conceals her beautiful, spotted 

 fawns. In the summer time grass, herbs, leaves, and tender 

 shoots furnish abundant food for all ; but during the winter 

 the cottontails have to rely largely on the bark of shrubs 

 and small trees, and the deer on buds and twigs. 



The birds that depend so much on the underbrush actually 

 plant many of the shrubs. When they eat the fruit of 

 sumachs, cherries, grapevines, and others, they do not digest 

 the hard seeds and these grow, if the birds happen to drop 

 them in favorable places. During the spring and fall mi- 

 grations, seeds are often dropped hundreds of miles from 

 the parent plant. Do you think that some trees and shrubs 

 depend as much on birds for the dissemination of their 

 seeds as birds depend on plants for food ? What purpose 

 may the black, blue, red, and white colors of ripe berries 

 serve ? Are black and dark blue conspicuous colors ? 

 Would yellow and brown be conspicuous colors for late 

 ripening berries ? 



Many shrubs and trees, if they are cut off, will produce 

 new shoots from the stump ; others even spread by stems, 

 which grow directly from the roots. Stumps of willows, 

 poplars, lindens, and oaks produce a large number of shoots, 

 which grow luxuriantly and often have abnormally large 

 leaves, because a large system of roots provides food for 

 them. These shoots frequently form a thick brush, but 

 trees and shrubs grown from stumps and roots do not be- 

 come as large and do not live as long as those grown from 

 seed. 



As we observe the trees through the summer, we must 

 also notice the smaller woody plants and their flowers and 

 fruits, although we may not know the names of all. 



