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It is to supply a little bird that daily visits it; and 
if he chances not to come, it is emptied to the 
ground through the channel that extends to the point 
of the leaf. I do not know who drinks the water 
the thistle holds ready in her leaves. The little 
birds and butterflies pass it by as if it were not 
good, and it flows off when too full, from the de¬ 
clivity of the leaf. - Those birches, too, that hang 
over the water and find food enough from below, 
throw it off from their branches as fast as it collects. 
You can hardly wet the leaves of that Lady-fern if 
you try. It does not love water, but if it wished 
to grow on the hills, it could have an aqueduct on 
its stalk and catch water from the skies. See how 
dry and shiny that Mountain Laurel is. Her leaves 
repel the thunder as well as the showers. 
“ The bulbs of the Red Lilies, whose leaves stand 
clustered so thickly by the water’s edge, are them- 
