meets few acquaintances. It has, moreover, a certain 

 charm of its own which doubtless lies in the crisp- 

 ness of the fronds and clear-cut outlines of the 

 pinnae. The marginal shield-fern is another ac- 

 quaintance to be looked for on the winter walk, 

 and everywhere the hardy polypody, which is as 

 much a child of winter as the little spiny cladonia 

 that clusters about its roots and clings to the same 

 granite ledge. 



Let there come a warm rain, the high blue- 

 berries redden their twigs and the lichens renew 

 their tints — quite as though Nature had softened 

 her heart. These lichens suddenly become con- 

 spicuous with a sort of gentle prominence, and 

 mildly compel attention ; on the oaks the yellow 

 cetraria, on the white pines, olive, slate-colored 

 and blue-green parmelias. Had faun and satyr 

 thus carved upon the forest trees the name of some 

 fair Rosalind among the nymphs, they could not 

 have wrought in more fitting and altogether sylvan 

 characters. 



A common necessity and hardship hold the 

 birds together in closer bonds so that they are 

 impelled to consort in little roving bands — chick- 

 adees, creepers, kingletsjand nuthatches, with often 



^S9 



