278 STUDIES IN THE FIELD AND FOREST. 



two weeks from the end of the first, when the oaks 

 have fully ripened their tints, and many of the trees 

 just named have become leafless. This period is re- 

 markable for a predominance of red, crimson, and pur- 

 ple hues in the color of the foliage ; and it lasts until 

 about the seventh or tenth of November. The third 

 period commences with a succession of severe frosts, 

 that destroy all the remaining tints of the forest, and 

 change them into one uniform and monotonous brown. 

 This period may be said to terminate with the early 

 snows of winter, and is remarkable, in some years, for 

 a series of warm days which have been called the 

 Indian Summer. 



All those who are accustomed to note the successive 

 changes in the face of nature, must have observed that 

 the different species of trees and shrubs lose their leaves 

 at different dates in the autumn, some being entirely 

 denuded, while others hardly exhibit any change in their 

 foliage. It may be further remarked that some species 

 preserve their verdure until their leaves drop to the 

 ground ; among which we may class a great proportion 

 of exotic trees and shrubs. Others roll up their leaves 

 into a crisp before their fall, like the most of the her- 

 baceous plants, without materially changing their color 

 except by fading. Such are the locust, and some of the 

 fruit-trees. The leaves of a third class, without wilt- 

 ing or withering, change from green to some brilliant 

 color, and make their beauty the harbinger of their 

 decay. The greater number of the trees and shrubs 

 belonging to the United States, are of this last descrip- 

 tion. 



Those trees in general that exhibit the earliest and 

 brightest tints, are the first to lose their leaves. This is 

 observable especially in the maples, whose tints of yel- 



