88 Poachers and Poaching. 



the fir wood we caught a glimpse of the scarlet 

 appendages of the rare Bohemian waxwing. The 

 gaudily-coloured yellow-hammer shows well 

 against the snow, and bathes its orange plumage 

 in the feathered rain. How our British finches 

 seem to enjoy the frost and snow ! Certain it is 

 that now their stores of food become scant ; but 

 then they throw in their lot with the sparrows of 

 barn-door and rick-yard. The bright bachelor 

 finch stands out from his pure setting, and the 

 daws look black against the snow. " Tweet," 

 " tweet," comes through the cold thin air, and is 

 startling in its stillness ; and now we may hear 

 as well as see the flight of a flock of linnets and 

 goldfinches. Here observe a tall, nodding thistle- 

 head, its once dark green leaves shrivelled up 

 and turned to grey, its purple flower-rays to 

 russet brown. They contain ripened seeds. A 

 goldfinch hangs to the under surface, and a rose- 

 breasted linnet clings to the topmost spray. The 

 two frail things are not unlike in form, though 

 the goldfinch is by far the handsomer bird. His 

 prettily-shaped beak is flesh-coloured, as are also 

 his legs. His head has patches of scarlet, white, 

 and black, each well defined and setting off the 

 other. The breast and back are of varying tints 

 of warm russet brown, and the feathers of the 

 wing are picked out with orange. His tail is 

 alternately elevated and depressed as he changes 

 his position ; and the patches of golden yellow 



