294 THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 



o'clock and left them in possession of the 

 woods. But the experience lives and memory 

 delights in it. 



One does not know trees well who is not able 

 to distinguish them in winter as in summer. 

 Every tree has some peculiar beauty which is 

 seen to best advantage in winter. The fine 

 spray of the beech is only seen after the leaves 

 are shed, then the sturdiness of the oak is best 

 realized, then also the birch are far more 

 graceful and attractive. The bark of most trees 

 appears to greater advantage during and after 

 October, carying a singular richness of color 

 that adds beauty. How growingly interesting 

 this study of bark color, because so varied and 

 intermingled, the very green stems of the sassa- 

 fras, the delicate branches of the red maple, 

 the white and yellow and brown and pink 

 trunks of the various birches, the red dogwood, 

 the changing and always attractive quince ja- 

 ponica, and ever so many others carrying extra 

 suggestions of Nature's natural love of beauty. 



What a pleasure to find bird nests in October, 

 to see where and how built, nests we wanted 

 to find in summer, but the parent bird was so 

 schemy and deceptive, she misled us. That yel- 

 low-throat's nest, how we hunted for it, now 

 here it is near the apple orchard, and a daisy 



