268 NATURE'S STORY OF THE YEAR 



shielded the seedlets, as they had sheltered the 

 bud, until the brood might be entrusted to the 

 winds, which would carry them abroad in the 

 world. But precautions were taken for that jour- 

 ney. The parent plant became exhausted, withered 

 and dead, in supplying the means of transit. And 

 when at last the barriers were forced aside, the 

 j emigrant seeds were already provided with wide 

 sails, fans, or other means of travel. Long months 

 have passed since the seeds were scattered, but 

 this tattered relic, dead and brittle, and soon to 

 be trampled into fragments, has withstood the 

 weather, the record of an atom of life which 

 fulfilled its destiny. 



Although the cold season deprives us of the 

 presence of numerous races of animals, the powers 

 of Nature are evident in the weather, in the rain, 

 snow and mist. The first maps the landscape in 

 magic whiteness ; and a distant rainstorm, viewed 

 from an eminence, is not unbeautiful. But who 

 will champion the clammy fog? The noisome 

 cloud of the city cannot be defended ; but the 

 grey, transparent veil thrown over meadow trees, 



