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CHAPTER XVIII. 



AUTUMN BERRIES. 



Rarely has the grain been so golden or the 

 wild fruit so plentiful as now.* 



The berry-bearing bushes are wreathed with 

 scarlet loads, and bend beneath the heavy 

 fruit. First and fairest among them is the 

 Mountain Ash or Rowan tree. Everywhere it 

 hangs out its clusters of orange fruit to the sun. 

 It conforms with an easy grace to the heather 

 brae, and in its wild situation is loved by 

 everv one. All the birds flock to it, and the 

 Ring-ouzels never leave it so long as there is a 

 berry remaining. Taking advantage of this 

 fondness for its fruit, bird-catchers bait their 

 hair nooses with the berries, and hence one 

 sometimes hears the Rowan called the fowler's 

 service-tree. 



* Autumn, 188fr. 



