... In the sunlight the silvery-yellow feathering and the metallic sheen of trunk and branches make the yellow birch one of the most attractive trees of the New England forest. Bark.—Bark of trunks ... open head and by the contrast of the white trunk with the dark spray; in summer, when the sun shines and the air stirs, by the delicacy, tremulous movement, and brilliancy of the foliage. Bark.—Trunk ... diameter at the ground of 4-8 inches, occasionally much exceeding these dimensions; under favorable conditions, of extreme elegance. The slender, seldom erect trunk, continuous to the top of the tree,...