OAK FAMILY 
own well distinguished types it varies toward the red oaks 
on the one side and the scarlet oaks on the other, But what- 
ever the individual leaf the foliage mass is always beautiful. 
In early spring the unfolding leaves are red, the freshest of 
them nearly scarlet. The long, white, silky hairs are dense 
on the upper velvety surface and the under surface is white 
with tomentum. As the red fades out and before the green 
darkens there is a time when the tree mass takes on a silvery 
greenish white through which the sunlight plays with magical 
effect. The deeply divided leaves are borne on rather long 
petioles which are bent down at first but soon spread out 
from the branches, The new shoots are yellowish green, 
sometimes stained dark red but covered with rusty down, 
The divided leaves give the foliage a feathery appearance and 
the long yellow aments respond to the slightest impulse, so 
that a light wind transforms the tree into a misty, shimmer- 
ing mass. The exquisite effects of spring-time coloring must 
be caught at the supreme moment, they do not remain un- 
changed for a day, scarcely for an hour. 
The mature leaf is dark green, in texture always thick, firm 
and almost leathery, The surface is always shining, some- 
xs 
times showing a “wet gloss.” The petioles are usually long 
and somewhat slender so that these shining leaves move 
freely, apart from the motion of the branch, and toss the sun- 
light from a thousand glittering points as they wave in the 
summer breeze. In autumn their tint is usually brownish 
yellow, rarely running into dark red, but even then the brown 
leaves shine as in midsummer and dance in the November 
sunlight as if it were May. 
These leaves often remain upon the tree all winter long, 
successfully resisting the rough buffeting of storm and wind 
and falling only when pushed off by the growing buds of 
spring. I once knew a pair of robins who selected an oak 
bough thickly covered with these winter leaves for their 
nesting place. The nest was built, the eggs were laid, and 
all went well in the sheltered nook. But, by the time the 
mother bird was sitting, the bursting buds pushed off the 
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