102 



AUTUMN AND WINTER 



with sunny patches of light varying from pale yellow to deep 

 brown. It is the one cheerful thing on some Norfolk wastes ; 

 and even in its duller and browner form, is the chief autumn 

 and indeed winter beauty of many English woods else 

 gloomy enough in the season of fallen leaves. Lake 

 enthusiasts protest that they rejoice in the absence of heather 



4 -ST^;, * , .. , .. 



SSN^fiff \,^L:*^ ^> vV- 



THE YOUNG SHOOTS OF THE BRACKEN ENTANGLED AMONG THE DEAD STALKS 



from the hills, preferring the yellow patches of fern to all the 

 dusky browns of withered ling. 



It is the glory of bracken that it lives beyond 

 autumn into spring, until at last its dried stalks begin to 

 look strangely out of place among the encircling fingers of 

 the new shoots. It is not alone. The blackberry briar, as 

 Darwin noticed, is on the way to become an evergreen. In 

 the woodland, many sprays will be as freshly green as the 

 hollies in December ; and when in spring the young shoots 



