67 



reckoned, and amounted to above 400 in num- 

 ber, a convincing proof that this tree was in an 

 improving state for upwards of 400 years ; and, 

 as the ends of some of the branches were de- 

 cayed, and had dropped off, it is presumed it 

 had stood a great number of years after it had 

 attained maturity. 



SINGULAR INSTANCE OF THE EFFECT OF COLD 

 ON BIRDS. 



In February, 1809, a boy in the service of 

 Mr. W. Newman, miller, at Leybourne, near 

 Mailing, went into a field called the Forty Acres, 

 and saw a number of rooks on the ground, very 

 close together. He made a noise to drive them 

 away, but they did not appear alarmed ; he 

 threw snow-balls to make them rise, but still 

 they remained. Surprised at this apparent in- 

 difference, he went in among them, and actually 

 picked up twenty-seven rooks ; and also, in se- 

 veral parts of the same field, ninety larks, a 

 pheasant, and a buzzard hawk. The cause of 

 the inactivity of the birds, was a thing of rare 

 occurrence in this climate, A heavy rain fell on 

 the Thursday afternoon, which, freezing as it 



