56 



THE FALL OF THE YEAR 



ternuts, if you live in the 

 states of the 

 Middle West; 

 for — what kind of nuts can 

 you not go for, if you live in 

 California where they make every- 

 thing grow ! It matters little whether 

 you go for paper-shelled English 

 walnuts or for plate-armored pignuts 

 so long as you go. It is the going 

 that is worth while. 



IV 



You ought to go " cocooning " this fall — to 

 sharpen your eyes. But do not go often ; for once 

 you begin to look for cocoons, you are in danger of 

 seeing nothing else — except brown leaves. And how 

 many brown leaves, that look like cocoons, there 

 are ! They tease you to vexation. But a day now and 

 then " cocooning " will do you no harm ; indeed, 

 it will cultivate your habit of concentration and close 

 seeing as will no other kind of hunting I know. 



Bring home with you the big brown silky cocoons 

 of cecropia — the largest cocoon you will find, 

 lashed all along its length to its twig, and usually 

 near the ground. Look on the black cherry, the 

 barberry, sassafras, and roadside and garden trees 

 for the harder, whiter cocoon of the promethea 

 moth. This hangs by its tip, because the caterpillar 



