THE CRIMSON TOPAZ. 245 



But the tree, thus encumbered, cannot long 

 support its burdens. After a time, it will languish 

 and decay. And then the whole brood of para- 

 sites, cut off from their supplies, will perish with 

 it. Often, in the forest, the traveller stands to 

 gaze on a tree so covered with parasites that not a 

 vestige of the trunk or the branches can be seen. 



Some of these parasites bear flowers of brilliant 

 beauty, that seem to start, as by magic, from the 

 branch or stem on which they grow. 



And others have a strange and almost mournful 

 aspect, as they hang from the tree like ragged 

 tufts of hair. 



They are known by the name of the " monkey's 

 beard," or the "old man's beard." 



The thick black filaments of the plant are like 

 horse-hair, and are used by the natives as such, to 

 stuff their cushions and mattresses. 



The birds find in this curious parasite a 

 material ever at hand, of which they can build 

 their nests. 



There is a little bird dressed in black and orange, 

 and that is called the Baltimore. It picks up a 



