330 
XXIV. 
NOVEMBER 1st. 
Clear bright Weather of Autumn unlike that of Summer. — Beautiful 
Forms of Frost. — Hoar Frost on Grass. — Skeleton of Leaves. — 
Migratory Birds.' — ^ Tamarack.' — Insects. — Autumnal Flow of Sap. 
— Resort of Butterflies. — Firefly. — Crinking of Grylli. — Carab. — 
Moths. — Ichneumon. — Snake. — Frogs.— Ruffed Grouse — its mode 
of Flight — ' Food, &c. 
Father. - — This is a delightful day ; the air is clear;, 
fresh^ and bracing ; the sunshine is bright and unclouded ; 
yet how totally unlike sumnaer ! its character is exclusively 
its own^ but yet we cannot readily tell in what it consists ; 
we feel and see intuitively the great difference, but do not at 
first see what causes it. The pleasant breeze^ the bright 
blue sky^ the warm sun^ are the same ; the ground dry and 
hard with frost, has the same solidity and appearance as if 
parched with heat ; — yet if we consider minutely, we shall 
find its peculiarity consists in the stillness that prevails ; there 
seems to be a general death pervading the woods, the fields, 
and even the very air. If we call or shout, our voices seem 
unnaturally loud, and a hollow echo is all the sound returned ; 
then the same deathy stillness prevails again. In summer 
the woods are full of little twittering musicians, glancing 
from bough to bough, which, even when they do not sing, 
continually, by their unceasing activity, break the still silence. 
The quivering leaves, with the light ever glittering through 
