266 WILD NATURE'S WAYS. 



snow, the difficulties and sui^erings of all wild 

 creatures are multiplied a thousandfold. Common 

 snipe and jack snipe descend from the hills in 

 order to probe the mudbanks of such small low- 

 land streams as still remain unsealed by hard 

 frosts. The jack snipe figured on the opposite page 

 was photographed in a ditch close to Redhill, in 

 Surrey, just as it was about to commence feeding. 

 During the prevalence of intense frosts the 

 majority of these birds leave our islands alto- 

 gether, but a few still remain, even when reduced 

 to such a pitiable condition that there is no 

 ground left soft enough for their long bills to 

 penetrate in search of worms and mollusca, ex- 

 cepting round springs, and they are so weak that 

 they will allow themselves to be taken by hand. 



Wild ducks living inland experience great 

 difficulty in procuring an adequate supply of 

 food when ice and snow abound. Stubble fields, 

 water meadows, and shallow weed-grown pools 

 are all held in a grip of iron. Any food still left 

 in them is as securely locked up as the wealth of 

 the Bank of England at midnight, and they are 

 therefore compelled to haunt springs and small 

 running streams in search of their nocturnal 

 meal. 



Such individuals as live within daily flights to 

 and from the sea love to visit small streams just 

 where they trickle into the salt water, and the 



