xxvi LETTERS TO MARCO 171 



were occasioned by the rise and fall of the 

 river. At Abingdon a cart and horse were 

 driven along on the ice, and a sheep roasted ; 

 both which experiments might have been 

 carried out safely at Wallingford. At Ben- 

 son Weir and Lock icicles were formed of 

 huge size and of the most grotesque appear- 

 ance. 



I am sorry to say that this long frost 

 killed vast quantities of birds of all sorts ; 

 a diminishment in their numbers being dis : 

 tinctly noticeable last year. Kingfishers 

 were especially hard put to it. The only 

 open water to be found was where some 

 springs or little brooks ran into the river, 

 such as those at Ewelme, Mongewell, or 

 North Stoke ; but even here fish were 

 very scarce. I need not say that we put 

 food for the birds every day in our garden ; 

 numbers of all sorts came daily for their 

 dole ; even the moor-hens grew very tame, 

 feeding like ordinary poultry. 



The frost was never very severe in in- 



