BIRD- LAND IN WINTER 213 



butterflies will return, and that the merry Warblers 

 will sing again when the spring returns. We know 

 that the Blackcap will then pour forth his loud, 

 wild notes from the bush by the stream. The 

 fairy bower will then be turned into a yet more 

 beautiful palace, with . yet more beautiful inhabi- 

 tants, and what will make it perfect will be the 

 music, of the Warblers of the wood. 



In winter, hunger makes all birds tame, and 

 it is possible to get quite close to some which are 

 of the wildest at ordinary times ; those that under 

 happier circumstances would not allow any one/ 

 to approach within a hundred yards. of them, can; 

 now be seen from only a few yards' distance.; 

 The Redwings and Fieldfares have taken them- 1 

 selves to; the thick hawthorn bushes that grow 

 over the stream, and are searching among the 

 frost-clad branches, for the bright red berries which 

 form their staple diet during this hard time, and 

 the ice beneath is covered with husks of these 

 berries. 



The Kingfisher returns to the same perch day 

 after day. For some reason the water in this 

 place, which, with its white surroundings, looks 

 quite black, does not freeze, but the poor bird sits 

 over it with feathers ruffled, looking anything but 

 contented. To suppose that the Kingfisher always 



