246 STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOEEST. 



lands around the brows of the woods and the moun- 

 tains. 



In the early part of the month, the most of the trees 

 .are still green in the uplands, but not brightly green as 

 -in summer. Their verdure is faded and rusty, and in 

 some it is even darker than it was during the health and 

 ■vigor of the foliage. But it is a sombre complexion 

 produced by age, and not a deeper green. The ash- 

 iree grows darker, by receiving a deep mulberry shade, 

 mingled almost imperceptibly with the greenness of the 

 leaf. This tint gradually brightens, into a brownish 

 iilac, with a peculiar transparency, and soon the leaves, 

 after fading into yellow, rapidly fall from the tree. The 

 leaves of several species of the oak partake of a deeper 

 shade, just before they assume the purple and chocolate 

 hues that precede their decay. Though many trees are 

 marked by a variety of shades, there is always in the 

 foliage of the same tree a predominance of one color. 

 The maples exhibit the different reds and yellows, from 

 orange and vermilion, through every gradation of scar- 

 let and crimson, while the willows, elms, and birches 

 are dyed with the various shades of olive, yellow, and 

 russet. The aspens, too, present a mixture of green and 

 yellow, and their tinted leaves, as they tremble in the 

 wind, resemble a multitude of golden butterflies, flutter- 

 ing and sporting among their branches. While con- 

 templating this gorgeous scene of splendor, our eyes 

 ■are attracted towards an occasional towering evergreen, 

 that stands alone among the glittering multitude, un- 

 shorn, of its verdure, like some proud spirit, that scorns 

 the fashions of the world. 



On every side of our walk, various plats of herbage 

 gleam upon our sight, each with one unmingled shade 



