194 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



of them were noted. Their oval leaves painted a 

 dainty brown by the frost, were withering and drop- 

 ping, thus disclosing more plainly the bunches of 

 brown nuts each clad in its protective armor of invo- 

 lucre. An interesting fact about tho hazelnut is that 

 its catkins, earnest of next season's flowers, are formed 

 in late summer and pass the winter in patient waiting, 

 ready to take advantage of the first warm days of 

 spring to open their cups of pollen and fertilize the 

 flowers for the future crop of nuts. 

 - Our unedible wild fruits usually cater to the sense 

 of sight, being bright in color or peculiar in structure. 

 Among them all, that of the wahoo or burning bush 

 seems to me most beautiful. Hanging on slender 

 pedicels, four or more in a cluster from the same 

 peduncle, its deep scarlet color and odd shape render 

 it a most striking object. Add to this the orange 

 aril of its seeds, peeping so daintily through the half 

 open suture of the pod after the latter has been 

 touched by one or two keen frosts, and we have a 

 combination and a contrast most pleasing to the eye. 

 Of the fifty or more species of birds which pass the 

 cold season in Indiana, the little winter wren, in his 

 russet coat, is the smallest and, in 



rp 



habits, one of the most peculiar. 

 Winter Wren. 



wherever you see him, be it on the 

 ground, in a fence corner, or in a pile of brush or 

 rails, he is continually on the go, flitting hither and 

 thither, in and out of the cracks of the fence and from 

 top to bottom of the brush pile; so that if you are a 

 collector and want his skin you have to take him on the 

 wing or not at all. It was, therefore, with a feeling of 



