109 



CHAPTEK VIII 



March 14, 1886. 



A LONG and trying winter this has been for both 

 feathered and unfeathered bipeds. To-day it seems 

 colder than ever, and the ground is so hard that 

 the strongest beaks can make but little impression 

 on it. A peewit has been strolling about on our 

 lawns, and I hear of many others, and also of 

 snipe and other unusual visitors. We have had 

 but little of the vast visitation of snow that has 

 buried half the world this year, and slain its 

 thousands of sheep upon the mountains of Wales 

 and Scotland, and not a few poor shepherds and 

 others. 



My loss has been a bed of yellow crocuses. 

 Two days ago they were beautiful, and the 

 admiration of every one who came to the door. 

 Suddenly I perceived one morning that there had 

 been what seemed a miniature tornado in the 

 midst of them ; the blooms were torn off and 

 scattered on all sides, and also torn to pieces. I 

 watched long before I discovered the malefactor in 

 a very large thrush that I had seen hopping about 



