76 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



lost its outline against the clear back-ground of the 

 wintry sky. The cattle in the yards^ the sheep in 

 the pens, nay, if possible, the pigs look dirtier than 

 before, whilst even the white cat as she daintily but 

 reluctantly picks her way in the snow, shows a tinge of 

 yeUow on her soft fur, and the pretty fantails on the 

 pigeon-locker are as little able to bear the contrast. 

 Aheady the birds show symptoms of privation, and are 

 gathering around our dwellings for any crumbs of 

 comfort. The pert robin alights upon the window-sill, 

 and ruffles his feathers as, with head a little on one 

 side, he looks in upon us with his large bright eye, a 

 mute but eloquent appeal to our sympathy. A lump of 

 sparrows, looking half as big as usual, are collected 

 together in the freshly swept drive, and others, Hke 

 little feathered bunches, sit huddled up upon the trees, 

 scattering the snow in showers to the ground as they quit 

 or settle on the branches. The timid hedge sparrow 

 becomes more confiding, and shuffles its way to our very 

 door-steps, or creeps about beneath the wide spread 

 laurels, where still a httle space, thus sheltered, affords a 

 snug retreat. We know where the blackbird has been 

 seeking his breakfast by that long double trail across 

 the grass-plot, and a perfect fretwork of mingling 

 footsteps shows where the meal was shared with others. 

 The song-thrush, now more pinched than any, is finish- 

 ing the last of the scarlet rowans that looked so pretty 

 on the mountain ash, but those once gone, and 4;he 

 worms and insects buried beneath the snow or the hard 

 crust of the frozen soil, this delicate bird wiU fall the 

 earhest victim if, warned in time, he seeks not a warmer 

 climate. Such is the morning of the first snow; on 

 the morrow perhaps a stinging frost may have added 

 crystals to our winter carpet, ghttering like diamonds in 

 the bright sunshine, but soon the glory of that match- 

 less whiteness is lost, through the minute particles that 



