LETTER XIX 



Prolonged Frost Bird-Feeding Thrushes Blackbirds Tomtits 

 Wrens Moorhens Ice Shelters Gulls Daffodils Ther- 

 mometers Natural Thermometer Effects of Frost on Aucuba 

 "Ben" and "The Royal Imp." 



llth February, 1895. 



DEAR MARCO This prolonged frost is very 

 trying. It is perhaps a little warmer to-day, 

 but the wind is bitter and in the north-east 

 still. Yesterday morning there was a 

 strongly marked solar halo, and a fall in 

 the barometer, but nothing came of it except 

 a slight increase of wind. 



In feeding the birds I have the greatest 

 difficulty in preventing the sparrows, rooks, 

 and starlings from getting pretty nearly all 

 I put out. The thrushes and blackbirds 



