150 OUR NATIONAL PARKS 



mina to marshy streams. The hardy, broad- 

 shouldered Pteris aquilina, the commonest of 

 ferns, grows tall and graceful on sunny flats and 

 hillsides, at elevations between three thousand 

 and six thousand feet. Those who know it only 

 in the Eastern states can form no fair conception 

 of its stately beauty in the sunshine of the Si- 

 erra. On the level sandy floors of Yosemite 

 valleys it often attains a height of six to eight 

 feet in fields thirty or forty acres in extent, the 

 magnificent fronds outspread in a nearly hori- 

 zontal position, forming a ceiling beneath which 

 one may walk erect in delightful mellow shade. 

 No other fern does so much for the color glory 

 of autumn, with its browns and reds and yellows 

 changing and interblending. Even after lying 

 dead all winter beneath the snow it spreads a 

 lively brown mantle over the desolate ground, 

 until the young fronds with a noble display of 

 faith and hope come rolling up into the light 

 through the midst of the beautiful ruins. A 

 few weeks suffice for their development, then, 

 gracefully poised each in its place, they manage 

 themselves in every exigency of weather as if 

 they had passed through a long course of train- 

 ing. I have seen solemn old sugar pines thrown 

 into momentary confusion by the sudden onset 

 of a storm, tossing their arms excitedly as if 

 scarce awake, and wondering what had happened, 

 but I never noticed surprise or embarrassment in 

 the behavior of this noble pteris. 



