284 WILD LIFE AND THE CAMERA 



or hemlocks, for they with their well-clad branches 

 are wonderfully transformed ; each branch is a 

 study in itself, and the effect of the whole forest 

 thus covered with snow is more beautiful than 

 anything offered by all the glories of summer or 

 autumn foliage. Strangely enough we do not 

 feel the need of the stronger colouring, but are 

 satisfied with the delicate blues, which are 

 intensified by the almost gold colour of the thinly- 

 scattered rays of sunlight that with difficulty find 

 their way between the snow-clad branches. And 

 yet, in all this beauty there is a certain bareness, 

 a lacking of something indefinable, and almost 

 against our will we long for the hopefulness of 

 spring, when everything is pregnant with life. 



