124 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



arillus, or seed-coat, which falls off spontaneously. All 

 this the botanist narrates, and a poet thus carries on the 

 subject : 



Yes, the small beech-mast, 

 Instinct with life, doth rise from out the ground, 

 Nursed by soft dews, and sunbeams, and mild winds ; 

 And those two watchful guardians, whose true office 

 Doth cease not, till the scion stands alone, 

 A mimic tree, yet such as dibbling foot 

 Of fawn might crush, but destined soon to rise 

 With might of boughs, beneath whose ample shade 

 Flocks may lie down at noon. 



My boughs, though comparatively unpeopled during the 

 summer months, are resorted to in autumn by vast numbers 

 of rooks and squirrels. You may see the sable brother- 

 hood, flying in clouds from yonder row of elms, and then, 

 alighting with grave and measured steps, they proceed to 

 gather in their harvest of beech-mast, wliich they secrete 

 in the ploughed fields, or among ferns or moss, and thus 

 form convenient granaries for winter. The nimble and 

 light-hearted squirrel is here also, with his numerous rela- 



