xviii LETTERS TO MARCO 115 



with birds of all sorts ; numberless plovers, 

 moorhens, coots, dabchicks, kingfishers, and 

 rooks afforded us great interest, and the sight 

 of a fine heron which rose up from a ditch 

 beneath us made us nearly forget the school- 

 ward journey we were taking. It is not 

 often one looks down on the huge, gray, ex- 

 panded wings of a heron as we did, more 

 like some old gray umbrella than anything 

 else. 



About Christmas time I saw two gulls 

 flying over the river, and kingfishers have 

 daily frequented the campshedding during 

 the winter. The tits at their hanging bones 

 have been as amusing as ever. Whenever 

 the frost gave way the thrushes and starlings 

 sang, giving us foretastes of the coming spring. 

 Starlings, I believe, from their habits of fre- 

 quenting their old nests or other places of 

 refuge in the winter, are very much infested 

 with vermin, and never tire of washing them- 

 selves even in the coldest day ; the energy 

 with which they shake themselves when thus 



