190 LORD L1LFORD 



received this morning. . . . We have had the 

 most severe spell of weather that I ever recollect 

 for a continuance in this country. The glass 

 has been down to below zero on several occa- 

 sions, and since January 23 we have never had 

 less than six degrees of frost. Our river and 

 flooded meadows are hard frozen, and swarming 

 with skaters. There has been a regular storm of 

 Little Auks on the coasts of Yorkshire, Lincoln, 

 and Norfolk ; some thousands have come ashore 

 about Scarborough, and the mouth of the Humber. 

 Two hundred and ninety have been recorded as 

 picked up in Norfolk alone; seven have been 

 sent or brought to me, all picked up in this neigh- 

 bourhood, and I hear of others. A good many 

 Waxwings have been killed ; two have been sent 

 to me. I know Santander well, every inch of 

 the harbour and creeks and the surrounding 

 country, and I may almost say the same of Vigo. 

 Poor old Sankey 1 came from a nest in a low cliff 

 in a creek of the harbour of Santander, just over 

 a small cave full of maidenhair fern. I re- 

 member well both the plants of which you send 

 a sketch. . . .' 



1 The old raven at Lilford. 



