1I4TR0DUCT10N. XIX. 



and commences its depredations on garden plants 

 and green wheat. The missel thrush begins its 

 deep and full song. The hedge sparrow and the 

 thrush begin to sing. The wren, also, " pipes her 

 perennial lay," even among the flakes of snow. 

 The titmouse pulls straw out. of the thatcli, in 

 search of insects ; linnets congregate, and rooks 

 resort to their nest trees. Pullets begin to lay ;: 

 young lambs are dropped now. 



The house sparrow chirps ; the bat appears ; 

 spiders shoot out their webs ; and the blackbird 

 whistles in the laurel hedge. The fieldfares, red- 

 wings, skylarks, and titlarks resort to watered, 

 meadows for food, and are, in part, supported by 

 the gnats which are on the snow, near the water. 

 The tops of tender turnips and ivy berries aflford 

 food for the garminivorous birds, as the ringdove, 

 &p. Earth worms lie out on the ground, and the 

 snail appears, and in fine days bees appear abroad, 

 Mr. Gisborne, in his " Walks in a Forest," 

 draws a lively picture of cattle going to their ac- 

 customed, pools to drink, when completely frozen 

 over, and of their awkward attempta to obtain the 

 grateful beverage. 



Various insects now come forth, and in the 

 ■warm, fine days towards the vernal equinox, we 

 see the sulphur butterfly, and sometimes also the 

 tortoiseshell on the wing. Snails are found clus- 

 tered on the south walls by the new blossom of the 



