348 
RURAL HOURS. 
that he allows himself to impale nine grasshoppers daily ; they 
also accuse him of devouring their peas, or those honey-loving 
insects which live in hives, called hees by most of us. 
Thursday, 19t/i. — The falling leaves are still brightly colored, 
strewing the paths and ■village side-walks in many places ; one is 
often tempted to stoop by the brilliancy of some of these fallen 
leaves, it seems a pity to leave them to wither in their beauty. 
When dried they preserve their colors a long time, especially 
when varnished ; of course they lose a degree of brilliancy, but 
much less than the flowers. 
The brooks and streams are often gayly strewn with the fallen 
foliage ; the mill-dam at the Red Brook was sprinkled this after- 
noon with bright leaves, red and yellow, like a gay fleet from 
fairy-land. 
Friday, 20th. — Rain. Many trees in the village losing their 
leaves very perceptibly ; those that are yet in leaf have faded de- 
cidedly within the last thirty-six hours. The woods are still in 
color, however. Larclres turning yellow rapidly. Willows un- 
changed. Evergreens in great beauty. The bare locusts brown 
with pods. Grass, bright green, well sprinkled with colored 
leaves. 
Robins and a few other birds flitting about ; saw sparrows, and 
several blue-birds, with them. 
Saturday, 21 st. — Mild, light rain ; gnats dancing in spite of the 
rain-drops. Gray branches becoming more numerous every hour. 
Woods generally fading, though some trees brilliant still, red oaks 
and yellow birches ; along the lake shore the trees are quite gay 
yet. The poplars in the village are beginning to drop their leaves. 
They first become bare below, while their upper branches are in 
