BIRDS IN MID-WINTER 27 



Song-thrushes occasionally sing in the depth of 

 winter, and the less melodious noise of the Missel- 

 thrush, the Wren, the Starling, the Hedge Sparrow, 

 the Chaffinch, the Yellowhammer, the Corn Bunting 

 and the Tits may be heard both early and late, in 

 some cases all round the year. I believe that the 

 Missel-thrush never sings except in winter or early 

 spring. 



We have few birds as yet about our new-built house, 

 but we shall have more before long. The boys have 

 thrown out corn, and bread, and sand for the starving 

 birds Sand is as necessary as food in snowy 

 weather, for a bird with an empty gizzard cannot 

 digest its food. 1 When our shrubs and trees have 

 grown there will be better shelter, and that will 

 greatly increase the number of our visitors 



Birds endure great hardships when the ground 

 is covered with snow for many days together, but I 

 fancy that they care little for mere cold. Such as are 

 fond of bathing will bathe in an ice-cold spring on 

 a frosty morning, and you will rarely find a bird of 

 any kind seeking shelter from a cutting north-east 

 wind. Rain is a different thing. Many birds do not 

 like to get their plumage wet. There is sometimes 

 talk of birds perishing from cold, but it will generally 

 be found by close inquiry into the circumstances that 

 they were short of food and water when they 

 succumbed. 



Grouse were plentiful after the hard winter of 1895, 

 but in January, 1886, they suffered greatly. Repeated 

 falls of snow and alternations of frost and thaw 

 1 The sand should be coarse and sharp. 



