24 COUNTRY RAMBLES. 



The birds have had much difficulty this last few days in obtaining 

 food, and it is interesting to note that they do not die so much of cold 

 as of hunger. Yet the great tenacity of life some birds possess when 

 deprived of lood is marvellous, and the following instances are recorded 

 in the "Ibis": -A Golden Eagle, 21 days; an Eider Duck, 28 days; 

 an Albatross, 35 days ; and a Penguin, it is stated, can live two months 

 without food. 



10th.- As I looked out of my bedroom window this morning I saw 

 in the distance half-a-dozen Rooks drinking at a pool of thawed snow- 

 It has been a beautiful Spring-like day, and the power of the sun is 

 increasing daily. The Starlings are quite themselves again, and have 

 unshrugged their shoulders ; they have been perfectly miserable- 

 looking this last few days. I came across a solitary Gnat in the 

 garden this morning, but a friend tells me a good many have been 

 dancing in the sunshine. 



17th. Snow nearly all gone. It is quite nice to see the green 

 meadows of Old England once more. The floods are out, and the 

 land is being watered in this way by the wonderful hand of Nature. I 

 watched with much pleasure a Skylark soaring this morning, and 

 listened to it pealing out those beautiful bells we all know and love so 

 well. He was soaring in a circular direction, and I verily believe he 

 was endeavouring to attract a female as a partner for the nesting 

 season of 1900. There is to my mind much more in this bird 

 language than we can understand, and the deeper we investigate the 

 more mysterious and wonderful it becomes. With the surroundings 

 so damp and dismal, I could not help admiring this courageous Lark 

 pouring out such delicious bubbling music, and the sight and sound 

 did my heart good and spurred me on for brighter days. 



Shortly after this occurrence, coming across some waste land, I 

 marked down a male Reed Bunting. He was a picture with his jet 

 black head and white collar round his throat, and very lively, but his 

 voice was silent. During the Winter most of the Bunting tribe resort to 

 the stackyards and partake of the grain, but I have never seen the Reed 

 Bunting to any extent in such surroundings. He is for the most part 

 a bird of the waterside, yet here he was close to my house, more than 

 two miles from water. He was evidently feeding on the seeds of 

 some obnoxious weeds, such as Thistle, Charlock, &c. This bird, 

 although black-headed, must not be confounded with the true Black- 

 headed Bunting, a rare visitor to this Country. The Starlings are out 

 on the land again "grubbing" and the Sparrows are quite lively, 

 apparently delighted at the disappearance of Winter. 



