Hedgerow Life 
of their daily food. Yearly they cross 
the North Sea, in chattering flocks, in 
search of the abundance of English 
hedgeside fruits and berries. Not until 
the spring has well advanced do these 
strangers venture to return to the in- 
hospitable country which has given them 
birth. 
And while this mantle of snow hides 
the familiar landscape with a strange 
new loveliness which we can _ hardly 
recognize, we can see fresh beauties 
everywhere. The commonest objects 
are changed into specimens of fairy 
workmanship, as the delicate structure 
of blade and twig and leaf is encrusted 
with hoar frost, like fairy diamonds. 
The snow will give us a good idea 
of the abundance of life. On its smooth 
surface every footstep, however light, 
C 17 
