WILD LIFE IN WINTER. 



293 



the shingle, dotted here and there with stunted 

 scrub blackthorn. The colder it is, the better this 

 nimble, handsome little fellow likes it ; I have not 

 the least doubt it puts him in mind of his own 

 ice-bound arctic home which he has deserted for 

 a time. He feeds on the small creatures that the 

 tide throws up and leaves behind it. 



Fieldfares I have seen close to the tide, but I 

 do not remember having seen one actually feeding 

 on the saltings, like the other birds I have mentioned. 

 In the course of a three weeks' ramble, I observed 

 about twenty fieldfares and three redwings, and 

 wondered where the rest of these birds had got 

 to this season. In 1886 we had a spell of hard 

 weather, when the peewits came up close to the 

 houses and gardens ; in fact, any place where there 

 was a bit of turf to look over, they ran about for hours 

 as long as the sun showed itself. When the sun 

 went down they took flight to their resting-place, 

 miles away. The redwings had not been seen at 

 all that season ; but presently, when a change had 

 taken place in the weather, and it had rained, the 

 sun shining out on the following day, I found, on 

 going home at noon, that the grazing-ground on 



