THE BRITISH ISLES 361 



room window ; but, as a rule, despite all the efforts of kindly human 

 beings, hunger and despair are driving them closer to the creatures 

 they fear most, and, alas ! too often rightly. 



I remember in the great frost some few years ago — I forget the 

 exact year — picking up some dead wild ducks on Bembridge golf links, 

 starved to death. So severe was the frost that year that Bembridge 

 harbour was frozen over and hundreds of fish were killed. Bem- 

 bridge, the warmest corner of England, where you can play golf 

 when all other courses are frozen! How, I wonder, did the birds 

 of Scotland and the northern counties fare at that time ? That was 

 the year when I remember hearing from a Scotch gamekeeper that 

 the grouse were all off the hills and in the laurel bushes round the 

 houses in the low grounds. And I do not think people sufficiently 

 comprehend what a terrific loss of life there is among travelling birds 

 when a gale springs up and they are blown from their course. 

 Millions of woodcock and snipe and all migratory birds have been 

 drowned at sea and die in this way yearly. The fact is proved by 

 the frequent occurrence of exhausted birds settling on ships at sea, 

 and by the smashing of birds against the glass of a lighthouse on 

 some far western point. But perhaps more rapid and mysterious 

 are the migratory habits of dead birds. For instance, the grouse 

 season commences, as is well known, on the morning of August 12th, 

 and the poulterers' shops in London will be found, when they open on 

 that morning, to be fully supplied with the dead bodies of grouse. 



But this is a little matter outside my province. However, I think 

 the only way to make an article on British sport of possible interest is 

 to give my own ideas on the subject. They may not be in accordance 



