The colours of autumn are not painted on; they are uncovered. Green chlor masks t yellow a orange pigm that s inside a le all sum, and wh the tr stops maint it the mask simply fades. Red is the exception, because it is manufactured late, during the final weeks before the leaf falls. Nobody is entirely sure why a dying leaf should spend energy on making a new pigment it will never use again.

Type only the missing letters. Each box is one letter, and the number of boxes matches the letters that are missing.