314 
RURAL HOURS. 
turkeys, however, make great havoc among them ; these birds 
fatten very much on the grasshoppers of September. 
Monday, October Id. — Soft, half-cloudy day ; something of 
spring in the atmosphere. The woods also are spring-hke in their 
appearance to-day : many trees are just on the verge of turning', 
colored in hght, dehcate greens of every tint ; the effect is very 
beautiful, and strangely like May. But here and there, amid these 
pleasing varieties of verdure, we find a brilliant flash of scarlet or 
crimson, reminding us that we are near the close of the year, un- 
der the influence of bright autumn, and not of gentle spring. 
Drive and walk. Sat upon the cliffs enjoying the view. The 
day was perfectly still, the lake calm and placid, the reflection of 
its banks more than usually lovely in its clearness and accuracy; 
the chang^inof woods, each brilliant tree, the hills, farms, and build- 
ings were all repeated with wonderful fidelity, and all the sweet- 
ness of the natural landscape. 
Gathered quite a pretty bunch of flowers ; asters, everlastings, 
golden-rods, bird-bell, innocence, pink and yellow fumitory, and a 
bunch of white blackberry flowers, blooming out of season. 
Found some of the fruit, also, quite eatable still ; a rose -berry 
also, here and there. Some of the leaves of these bushes, the 
rose-raspberry, are very large, among the largest leaves we have ; 
measured one this morning of unusual size, twelve inches and a 
half in breadth. The bush grew in a moist, shady spot. 
Many butterflies sailing over the fields. The yellow butterflies 
are the earliest to come, and the last to leave us ; they seem more 
social in their habits than most of their kind, for you generally see 
them in parties, often in the meadows, often on the highways. 
