116 A BIRD COLLECTOR’S MEDLEY. 
CHAPTER XXII. 
THE MEADOWS IN WINTER. 
THE water-meadows in winter! The prospect, it must be confessed, is 
not an inviting one, save, perhaps, to the ardent naturalist or the Snipe- 
shooter. It is too suggestive of damp feet, sore throats, colds, and possibly 
ague, to find favour with the average individual; and yet how attractive an 
insight into the life of many of our most interesting birds can then be picked 
up by anyone who is content to spend a single month in the diligent 
observation of ten or a dozen acres of ordinary Hampshire water- 
meadows. 
It is a muggy December day, and, as you enter the first field, there rises 
in scattered and irregular detachments a flock of Fieldfares and Redwings, 
which are eagerly taking advantage of this short spell of mild weather to 
lay in provender against hard times to come. To-day they are as wild 
as Hawks, but when the snow and frost have lasted for a week and driven 
them to the bushes, even the Fieldfares will let you come close to them as 
they struggle with noisy chorus for the fast failing supply of berries to 
which they are now reduced for sustenance. The Redwings suffer most, as 
they are not really berry feeders; some approach the houses and frequent our 
gardens, but many may be picked up quite dead or helpless, and benumbed 
by cold and hunger. 
We shall not see many of the larger birds to-day. The Plovers are 
feeding in the uplands, the Snipe—well, he may or may not be there; if he 
is, he will in all probability lie well, and be as fat as butter. It is the smaller 
birds that are in force: Skylarks and Titlarks swarm in every field, and take 
absolutely no notice of your approach, and the Kingfisher darts along the 
winding brook. Kingfishers appear in a marvellous way at this season, though 
many are never seen together. I met a man who had shot a dozen within 
a week from a single garden, and yet, walking in the meadows round, one 
would never have supposed that there were more than a couple in the neigh- 
bourhood. Perhaps, however, as is the case with Falcons, single pairs reserve 
