JANUARY. 19 



golden-crested wren, from its diminutive size 

 and solitary habits, is not often noticed; and 

 may be easily overlooked; but it is very abun- 

 dant where there are plantations of spruce- 

 trees, to which they are extremely partial, 

 hanging their nests to the under- surface of the 

 lower branches. Though apparently of so deli- 

 cate a nature, they remain with us all the 

 winter and appear to suffer less from cold than 

 even many of our hard-billed species. 



The blackbird whistles; the titmouse pulls 

 straws out of the thatch, in search of insects ; 

 and linnets congregate. Pullets begin to lay ; 

 young lambs are dropped now in southern 

 counties, but the more common time of lambing 

 is in March. The fieldfares, redwings, sky- 

 larks, and titlarks, resort to watered meadows 

 for food, and are, in part, supported by the 

 gnats which are on the snow near the water. 

 The house-sparrow chirps, and the bat is now 

 seen. As the cold grows more intense, various 

 kinds of sea-fowl quit the bleak open shores, 

 and come up the rivers, where they offer an 

 unusual prey to the fowler. 



c2 



