24 
NATURE NOTES 
naturalists, but what is more surprising, also in those of the 
British pleasure-seeking public. These enthusiasts are well 
worthy of the motto which they have adopted : — 
“ To amuse and entertain is good 
To do both and instruct is better.” 
WINTER SUNSHINE. 
The low sun of winter — 
What light is more dear 
Than the low sun that lightens 
The close of the year ? 
It shines in our faces, 
.\nd, from the bright pane 
And the frost on the puddle. 
Looks. at us again. 
It brightens the meadow. 
On whose brilliance we see 
The skeleton shadow 
Of the bare winter tree. 
It makes the moss golden. 
It finds the brown sedge. 
And reveals every leaf 
That is left in the hedge. 
Now dark gleams the ivy : 
The bracken burns red. 
And the leaves of the beech 
Rustle crisply and dead 
On their thick wayside bushes 
IJnswept by the gale 
While the tall stalks of umbels 
Shine ghost-like and frail. 
There trails the long bramble 
With dry leaves that curl 
’Gainst the pale-gleaming sky 
With its sapphire and pearl. 
So cold in its shining 
So tender and clear. 
Is the low sun that lightens 
The close of the year. 
