162 NATURE AND WOODCRAFT. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



NUTS. 



Now that nature's duns and browns and 

 yellows have picked out the hedgerows, the 

 nuts have become embrowned at their tips. 

 In the woods the shaggy clusters hang in 

 picturesque profusion, and here and there 

 cause the branches to droop by their weight. 



A hazel copse in September is the very 

 embodiment of autumn. The field of golden 

 grain which lay by its margin like a great 

 patch of sunlight on the landscape has given 

 way to the stubble, and the brown Partridges 

 feeding upon this give another characteristic 

 touch to the season. Where the nut-bushes 

 stand out to the sun the nuts are already rosy ; 

 deeper in the woods they are still of the green 

 of the leaves. It is pleasant to watch the 



