WINTER SHIFTS. 217 



feed, under these circumstances, may fairly be com- 

 pared to feathered snow-ploughs. It does not take 

 long to clear a space wherein to forage. The jays, 

 for a wonder, flit quietly from one tree or berry-bear- 

 ing bush to another, too busy to squawk unless you 

 frighten one out of its wits by quietly coming on him 

 from behind some clump of bushes, as he is stocking 

 away among the fallen leaves. In such case he is 

 seriously alarmed, and makes a tremendous noise 

 over it. The green woodpecker is just as busy as 

 the rest, only after a different method. Something 

 his instinct we say, for want of a better term 

 wherewith to describe a bird's faculties tells him 

 that after the sumptuous living he has enjoyed 

 through the spring, summer, and early part of the 

 autumn, ants or their eggs are essentially necessary 

 to his wellbeing, to tone things down a bit, possibly. 

 For the yaffle is positively plump just now. To pro- 

 cure pupae in a more or less advanced stage of de- 

 velopment, he leaves this belt of silver-grey beech- 

 woods and frequents the outskirts, where are open 

 spaces covered with fine grass and ant-hills, well 

 studded with gnarled old thorn-trees, both black and 

 white thorn, covered with moss and lichens. You 



