THE BEAUTIES OF THE AUTUMN. 16 1 



fruition the period when the year's increase is 

 ripe unto the harvest ; and a season when the 

 northern world is gilded with all those lovely 

 tints and hues, which are none the less beautiful 

 because they are the heralds of death and decay. 

 For the naturalist, the period of the year's decline 

 is fraught with interest he may then watch the 

 habits and movements of all animated Nature, 

 preparing for the coming winter, just as he already 

 has observed the glories of their birth and youth 

 in spring, and the wonders of their developing 

 maturity in summer. Already the once sober 

 green leaves on trees and hedgerows are rapidly 

 changing into the browns, and yellows, and 

 purples, which proclaim the glory of their fall. 

 Soon the landscapes will glow in a hundred 

 blazing tints, some blended beautifully together, 

 others standing out in brilliant relief, like seas of 

 russet and gold, as the sun gleams in mellow 

 radiance athwart their broad expanse. Autumn 

 is more apt to fill a contemplative mind with 

 sorrow than any other season ; yet Nature knows 

 no sadness in all this quiet decay ; each leaf and 

 each bloom has completed its mission, and not one 

 of them will fall in vain ! 



Our rambles through the fields and woods 

 reveal important changes. We miss the music 

 of the birds that made spring and early summer 

 so beautiful ; we note the absence of much of the 

 bustle and excitement characteristic of the country 

 during the love season of our feathered favourites; 



