WINTER SHIFTS. 271 



about the streets of market towns in the North 

 of England. Thousands perished of hunger, and 

 thousands more managed to keep hfe and feathers 

 together by avaihng themselves of the fruit, and 

 buds of hawthorn bushes. A strange thing is 

 that they acquired such a taste for this kind of 

 food that they are, like the sea gulls and the 

 Dutch cheese on the Thames Embankment, loth 

 to give it up, for whijst in Yorkshire as recently 

 as last winter I saw several members of the 

 species, during quite open weather, tugging away 

 shamefully at the buds on hawthorn trees. Of 

 course, I saw red grouse, long before the memor- 

 ably severe weather in question, sitting in or on 

 trees, but never before actually feeding from 

 what they produced. 



During my farming days I could never make 

 out the connection between an open winter 

 followed by a black cold spring and the rich crop 

 of yellow rattle which was sure to appear in the 

 summer. The explanation may perhaps be sought 

 in the following interesting fact. Yellow rattle 

 is a parasitic plant which preys upon the roots 

 of grasses and other herbs. It has a strong 

 upright stem, which will stand erect through 

 several inches of snow, and during severe weather 

 partridges feed upon its seeds. 



The very severest of weather seems to have 

 no terrors for the hardy wood-pigeon. If there 



