JANUARY. 43 



congregate and fly to the warm stubble for shelter. 

 Sparrows, yellowhammers, and chaffinches crowd 

 in farm-yards, and attend the barn-door to pick their 

 scanty fare from the chaff and straw. The red- 

 breast ventures into the house. 



During the mild weather of winter, slugs are in 

 constant motion, preying on plants and green wheat. 

 Their coverings of slime prevent the escape of 

 animal heat, and hence they are enabled to ravage 

 when their brethren of the shell are compelled to 

 lie dormant. Earth-worms likewise appear about 

 this time ; but let not the man of nice order be too 

 precipitate in destroying them they are the under- 

 gardeners that loosen the sub-soil, and have their 

 uses in conveying away superfluous moisture, and 

 admitting a supply of air to the roots of plants. 



The hedge-sparrow and the thrush now begin to 

 sing. The wren also pipes her perennial lay, even 

 among the flakes of snow. The golden- crested 

 wren, from its diminutive size and solitary habits, 

 is not often noticed, and may be easily overlooked ; 

 but it is very abundant 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 delicate 

 a nature, they remain with us all the winter, and 

 appear to suffer less from cold than many even 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 



