134 SYLVAN WINTER. 



the lighter (it may be almost golden) shade of 

 the veins and veinlets, and by the purple sheen of 

 the stem. Tree Ivy, with its bright and with its 

 golden-green, mantles upon dark-brown boles and 

 twines along bare and wintry boughs. Gorse, 

 too, stands out in verdant lightness, Scotch Fir in 

 its rich tinge of bluish-green, and the branches of 

 the Yew in darker shades. Far and wide, too, 

 spreads the mantling grass, with shades on 

 shades of varying hue. For blue, there is the 

 wide vault of heaven and the restless expanse of 

 the glorious sea ; for gold, the glint of sunlight, 

 sometimes the sparkle of gorse blossoms, and 

 always the rich colouring of incrusting lichen. 

 Silver we look for on the Birch ; crimson amidst 

 the Holly, whose berries cling to its branches ; 

 purple in the spray of Birch and of Beech, and in 

 the leaves and stems of the Brambles ; gold and 

 brown together in the Bracken, and brown in the 

 Oak and Elm, and many another stem, all varying 

 in their shades of colour. The clouds seem to catch 

 and gather up the glowing tints, for though we 

 have no green in the fleecy or piled-up masses of 

 vapour that float under the eye of the sun, we 



