EFFECTS OF FROST. 137 



often questioned by naturalists, who maintain that there is a 

 sufficiency of internal warmth in a bird's foot to thaw any 

 moisture which might produce the effect above mentioned ; 

 but when we consider the power of sudden frosts, and the 

 comparatively small circulation of blood in a bird's claw, we 

 see no reason to doubt the fact, which is in a great degree 

 confirmed by some other instances of the effect of frost, of an 

 equal if not more extraordinary nature. Thus, a writer who 

 kept a journal in 1658, in speaking of the winter of that year, 

 alludes to it as the severest ever known in England, and, 

 amongst other things, adds, that Crows were taken with their 

 feet frozen to their prey.* In Scotland, also, during a severe 

 frost, a Heron was found struggling on the ice ; it seems the 

 foot on which it had been standing, had been during the 

 night completely frozen up ; probably when first it settled on 

 the previous evening, the surface was in a fluid state, but a 

 severe frost setting in, the foot was soon encrusted with ice, 

 and the bird fettered to the spot. Again, in one of Captain 

 Sir Edward Parry's Northern Expeditions, the hand of a 

 marine was so dreadfully frost-bitten, that it was found neces- 

 sary to amputate some of the fingers ; previously to which, by 

 way of restoring circulation gradually to the parts which had 

 not been frost-bitten, the man's hand was dipped in cold water, 

 when, to the great surprise of the medical attendants, the 

 water was seen to congeal round the frozen joints for a con- 

 siderable length of time after its immersion. In another of hi3 

 expeditions, it was observed that the Ravens which were seen 

 on the wing had a white circle round their neck like a collar, 

 which was at last discovered to be a regular coating of frozen 

 breath, that had thus collected on the feathers, as it escaped 

 from the bird's mouth. But a still more curious instance, and 

 very similar to that of the Kites, occurred near Windsor. 

 One morning a person was employed in a yard adjoining to 

 his house, when his attention was attracted by the growling 

 of his cat, who seemed to be in violent agitation, though con- 

 fined to the spot on which she stood. On examining the 

 * Evelyn's Memoir*. 



