TREES AND FLOWERS 133 



I am never weary of studying this scrambler, as Darwin 

 christened it, and there is always something of interest to record 

 concerning it at all seasons of the year. Although it successfully 

 throttles other plants, and even goes to battle with the sturdy 

 Hawthorn, and usually comes olf victor, I must confess to a great 

 liking for the Bramble as a Nature Study subject. Plentifully 

 supplied with prickles, it is able to obtain and preserve its place in 

 the sun, and, from many points of view, serves a useful purpose 

 in life. An established Bramble bush, in which the branches are 

 intertwined so as to form an impenetrable barrier to human folk, 



FIG. 61. BRAMBLE. 



is a sheet anchor to various birds which nest, or rest, there. Among 

 its evergreen leaves they are admirably protected, and, when 

 in luscious fruit, there is an abundant food supply near at hand. 

 The silky flowers, so prettily ornamented with a bunch of stamens 

 within, are very delicate, the five petals proclaiming this country- 

 side stalwart as a member of the Kose family. I like to see it in 

 a hard Winter best, when it loses practically all its leaves, as I 

 am then able to observe to better advantage the interlacing 

 branches, the framework, as it were, over which the living cover- 

 ing is so craftily spread later in the year. The plant climbs, 

 creeps, runs along the ground, and hangs down from the summit 

 of its host, as if to remind the wayfarer of the mass of vegetation 

 of some tropical forest. One does not notice these things unless 

 a special look-out is kept, but there will be some, at least, among 



