56 MOUNTAIN STRAWBERRY. 



heroes of the tale. It runs uniformly in the same 

 manner: Down comes the eagle in the pride of her 

 strength, slash goes her talons into the limb of the 

 marten, and with a flap of her wings she is soar- 

 ing toward the zenith. The prey, however, is only 

 scotched ; and the marten or the weasel, or whatever 

 else it may be, jerks round its head into the throat of 

 the eagle, and both fall lifeless to the earth. These 

 accounts may be true ; but they belong to that class, of 

 which there is a separate edition for every district, and 

 therefore they would need verification by an eye-witness. 

 But upon the little open glades, and in the shelves of 

 the rocks, by those dashing streams that descend and 

 cut their way in the lower slopes of mountains, there is a 

 fruit more cooling and agreeable than the nut, and it may 

 be obtained without a fear of wood-cats and martens. 

 That is the mountain strawberry, (fragaria collma^) one 

 of the finest fruits that grow, and one of those that remain 

 longest in season. If the soil of a mountain ravine is 

 good, the aspect warm, and plenty of shelter, it begins 

 to ripen in August, produces abundantly, and continues 

 till it is killed by the winter frost. There are two 

 varieties of it, the white, which is nearly round, and 

 has the one side tinged with delicate scarlet ; and the 

 red, which is of an oblong form, and nearly as dark in 

 the colour as a mulberry. The white is a very de- 

 licious luxury; and the red, though a little austere, 

 (all red fruits are mostly so,) has a high flavour. Both 

 may be cultivated, but the red is the most hardy ; and 

 they who choose to pay it proper attention may, in 

 mild seasons, have fresh-gathered strawberries to their 

 Christmas desserts. By cultivation, the size increases, 



