50 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



being generally large, massy, and vigorous ; the time when 

 they appear in their greatest glory is the month of Septem- 

 ber. The splendour of their autumn colours is something 

 wonderful to an English eye. The leaves of the Sycamore 

 and Maple show every hue from richest crimson and orange 

 to deep warm shades of brown, mingled and beautifully 

 contrasted with the palest shade of buff-colour and light 

 green. The Sumach-tree too grows near, with its uniformly 

 arranged leaves, dyed bright vermilion. 



The inhabitants of these forests are chiefly bears, wolves, 

 foxes, tiger-cats, martens, hares, and squirrels, of which 

 there are four different kinds; these industrious creatures 

 hoard up large stores of provisions for winter in the holes of 

 trees ; the business of " putting up their preserves " is most 

 diligently performed by these good little housekeepers, as 

 they carefully skin every beech-nut before they stow it 

 away. The bears seem to be some of our old vegetarian 

 friends, as they too feed on the beech-nuts, hickory and 

 butter-nuts. The most formidable animals to encounter are 

 the wolves, particularly when they are in a pack together. 

 "There is something very appalling in the wild unearthly 

 din of a pack of Canadian wolves in full cry in the woods at 

 night, hunting deer/' 



