349 



XXVI, 



DECEMBER 31st. 



Drifted Snow. — Inconvenience of intense Cold little felt — Effects more 

 external than internal. — Frozen Feet of Poultry. — Semi-congelation 



■ of Water. — Sleigh- riding. — Occupations of Winter. — Tending Stock. 



- — Threshing. — Cutting Fuel — Rails. — Brown Creeper. — Grubs of 

 Beetles. — Winter Gnat. — Snow-bunting. — Yellow-birds [Pine-finch, 

 note}, — Gleam of the Woodman's Axe. — Arvicola. — Insects. — Hip- 

 pobosca. — Blue Jay. — Size of Trees. — Structure of Trees. — Death by 

 Girdling. — Excrescences. — Close of the Year. — Conclusion. 



Charles. — What curious and beautiful forms the drifted 

 snow assumes ! here it lies in gentle undulations, swelling 

 and sinking ; there in little ripples, like the sand of a sea 

 beach ; — here it stands up like a perpendicular wall ; there 

 like a conical hill : — here it is a long deep trench ; there a 

 flat overhanging table ; but one of the prettiest sights is that 

 which is presented by a lumber- shed hung with cobwebs, 

 after a drift. The snow in greater or less masses has at- 

 tached itself to the cobwebs, and hangs from the rafters and 

 walls, and from corner to corner, in graceful drapery of the 

 purest white; but of such fantastic shapes, as we don't 

 readily see. 



Father. — The heavy masses of snow which rest on the 

 flat horizontal boughs of the spruces and hemlocks after a 

 fall, are striking and beautiful ; but these must be gently 

 deposited, or they will not rest ; they are not drifted ; a very 

 slight wind is sufficient to shake them off. 



