WILD LIFE IN HARD WEATHER 211 



two or three snipe, with feeble notes of alarm, 

 rise quickly from the reeds beside the brook, 

 and, on pointed pinions, speed away towards 

 the Cerdyn valley. Then, with a sudden change 

 of flight, they top the woods and are gradually 

 lost to sight in the far distance of the sky. 



Noon draws on, and the snow disappears from 

 the open fields and from the hillsides facing the 

 sun. The pigeons leave the pines, and settle to 

 feast on the acorns which the sun has exposed 

 among the open spaces in the oak-scrub, and 

 among the low-lying meadows in the hollow of 

 the valley. Their habits, perforce, are changed 

 with altered conditions. Now, instead of feed- 

 ing in the early morning and again towards 

 sunset, the pigeons must be content with little 

 more than their noonday meal. Their eagerness 

 in procuring the day's provender is more marked 

 than in mild weather. As the afternoon ap- 

 proaches, the flocks divide ; henceforward the 

 pigeons congregate only in parties of twenty or 

 fifty at most. If fortunate in finding plentiful 

 supplies of food, they return to the pines about 

 two hours after noon, leaving behind them those 

 which have not been successful. Thus, a con- 

 tinual stream of birds crosses and re-crosses the 

 wooded hillsides, the satisfied pigeons betaking 

 themselves early to roost in the firs, and the 

 hungry birds still wandering from place to place 



