244 Birds in Frost. 



the supply is soon exhausted, and then numbers 

 die of sheer starvation. Curiously enough, red- 

 wings, which only visit us as winter migrants, 

 seem always first to feel the pinch, though all of 

 the species eventually suffer alike. Fieldfares, 

 when hard pressed, take to the turnip fields, and 

 pick out the inside of the roots that have been at- 

 tacked and opened up by rabbits ; but the food does 

 not appear to agree with them, as all that we have 

 obtained under such circumstances have been little 

 better than skin and bone, and numbers may be 

 picked up dead. 



There are, in our opinion, few more wretched 

 objects in life than a half-starved thrush in time of 

 frost. The unfortunate birds creep about under 

 hedge-banks, and similar places, looking most 

 forlorn, with all their feathers staring and ruffled 

 ({ hover/' as the country people call it and 

 with scarcely sufficient energy remaining to enable 

 them to get out of the way of the passer-by ; 

 indeed, at such times many may be caught 

 by hand. As before remarked, however, all 

 birds suffer terribly in seasons of prolonged frost; 

 and there are but few species indeed whose 

 numbers are not thinned by the privations they 

 endure. As a further instance of the dangers to 

 which birds are liable, we may add that larks are 

 sometimes overwhelmed by heavy snow, and are 

 found dead on the ground after the thaw. Among 

 the few birds that seem almost indifferent to the 

 weather which is bringing death and desolation 



