JANUARY IN BERKELEY. 



IIDWINTER about San 

 Francisco Bay is a very dif- 

 ferent matter from the same 

 season in regions where all 

 is ice-bound and white with snow. The 

 birds are not so keenly pressed for shel- 

 ter and food here as in more rigorous 

 climes. Seldom could it have been said 

 here that " The owl for all his feathers, 

 was a-cold," but there are exceptions to 

 all rules, and especially to rules con- 

 cerning the weather. I well remember 

 my surprise during my first winter in 

 California, after having been told that 

 both thunder-storms and snow-storms 

 were practically unknown here, at wit- 

 nessing both phenomena together, as if 

 in defiance of all precedents. I was espe- 



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