clintonia present one of the rarest blues, equaled 

 only by gentians and bluebirds. Both berries, of 

 course, wear their true colors only in their prime 

 and lose them on becoming overripe. In the 

 swamps the little yellow and brown cyperus is in 

 flower and the leaves of the small, pale St.-John's- 

 wort have reddened to a brilliant hue, while young 

 bullfrogs and pickerel-frogs sun themselves on the 

 lily-pads and dream away the mellow hours. 



While the dog-days are disappointing in respedt 

 to bird life, there are compensations. The charm 

 of this season lies in the mushrooms. Though these 

 last through Odiober, they are more in evidence 

 in August, and take on prominence then because 

 of a diminishing flora and the withdrawal from 

 view of a large number of birds. It is a second 

 spring — hot, moist and fungus — a blooming of 

 the mushroom world. Old stumps and dead 

 branches blossom gaily, and bring forth a tropic 

 flora. Decay is seen to be the matrix of beauty. 

 The logs of corduroy roads through the swamp 

 are incrusted with a shelf fungus ( P. versicolor ) of 

 marvelous hues. These, spread like open fans, are 

 fastened to the wood by the pileus itself, as by the 

 handle. Some are banded in seal-brown and amber, 

 114 



