thus protecting the whole body, except one 

 side of the head, which the feathers of the wing 

 cannot quite shelter. This leaves an eye ex- 

 posed, and this eye, like the heel of Achilles, 

 proves to be the one vulnerable spot. It freezes 

 in very severe weather, causing a slow, painful 

 death. In the morning, after an unusually cold 

 night, you can find dozens of crows flapping 

 piteously about in the trees of the roost and 

 upon the ground, with frozen eyes. In Janu- 

 ary, 1895, I saw very many of them along the 

 Hollow, blind in one eye or in both eyes, dying 

 of pain and starvation. It was pitiful to see 

 their sufferings. The snow in places was 

 sprinkled with their broken feathers, and with 

 pine-needles which they had plucked off and 

 tried to eat. Nothing could be done for the 

 poor things. I have tried time and again to 

 doctor them ; but they were sure to die in the 

 end. 



Who has not wondered, as he has seen the 

 red rim of the sun sink down in the sea, where 

 the little brood of Mother Carey's chickens 

 skimming round the vessel would sleep that 

 night ? Or who, as he hears the honking of geese 



[41] 



