294 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS « 



even more impossible safely to visit their accustomed 

 feeding-haunts. Especially must this be the case by 

 night, when the drift-ice is invisible ; hence many of the 

 nocturnal fowl are at such times to be found frequenting 

 the oozes by day. 



It is at such times as these, when ice and snow cover 

 both land and sea, and an angry grey sky is spangled 

 with driving feathery flakes — at such times one may look 

 for the appearance of the wild swan, monarch of the flood, 

 and several of these noble wildfowl pay the penalty of 

 their lives ere they learn the wisdom of giving a wide 

 berth to that low, white, unsuspicious-looking craft which 

 so closely resembles the blocks of ice drifting along on 

 the tide. In the mild winter of 1882, about Christmas, 

 several of the smaller species (Bewick's swan) appeared 

 on this coast, and, being very incautious, were nearly all 

 killed. 



In such seasons, the number of brent geese on this 

 coast, as described elsewhere, is truly amazing. In the 

 winters of 1878-9, and 1880-1, it was no uncommon 

 occurrence to see from ten to twelve thousand in a single 

 harbour; and during March 1886, even these great 

 numbers were largely exceeded. The soporific effect of 

 the frost on mallard and wigeon has already been alluded 

 to. Sheld-ducks (usually rather wary fowl) now become 

 quite tame ; indeed, they and all the shell-feeding birds 

 suffer severely in protracted frosts. The vegetable-feeders 

 can make shift for a considerable time on the drift weed, 

 which, by every tide, is carried off the flats at the ebb ; but 

 the food of the others is absolutely sealed against them, 

 and they suffer proportionately. Even the curlews, 

 usually near impracticable, now yield to the extremity 

 of the weather, and may easily be approached, if thought 



