300 ON S URRE Y HILLS. 



makes him throw aside much of his usual caution. 

 Then he gets in trouble. I have seen him exposed 

 for sale recently, much to my regret, for he is now far 

 from a common object in the country. 



When all the ponds are ice-bound it is useless to 

 look for swimmers or waders in their vicinity. The 

 only places where you can hope to find them are 

 warm bog-swamps, open ditches, and moist tussocky 

 spots, unpleasant enough to explore in such weather. 



Woodcocks and snipes came very close to houses 

 and quiet places last winter in quest of food. You 

 might have been sure of finding both birds, in fields 

 bordering on the moorland woods, in which turnips 

 had been left for sheep to feed upon, not cut up with 

 the machine, but in their natural state. The leaves 

 are broad and thick, and by their cover they prevent 

 the ground from being frozen very hard about the 

 roots. In the middle of the day, if the sun shines, 

 the frost and snow on the leaves melts a little and 

 drips on the ground, for a time thawing the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood of the roots they cover. The 

 worms take advantage of this at once and come near 

 the surface. So do the woodcocks and snipes, for 

 they are as busy as ever they can be, boring success- 



