WINTER SHIFTS. 225 



we hurry on, for a blinding storm of snow at night, 

 in a rough, wooded district, is a serious matter, 

 fearfully misleading even to those who know the 

 country well. Rooks are sagacious birds they 

 have the faculty of self-preservation very fully de- 

 veloped ; but I have known them all at sea in a 

 snowstorm, and completely helpless in one of the 

 thick white fogs that are so very prevalent in the 

 woodlands, after a heavy fall, and a half-turn of the 

 wind to the southward for a few hours. In such 

 case they will drop in the first trees they come to, 

 or even on to the tops of hedges, flapping, flutter- 

 ing, croaking, and quarking in a most unearthly 

 manner, unable to reach their rookery until the fog 

 lifts. Their instinct, or reckoning faculties, fail 

 them, just as man's will fail him under similar 

 circumstances. 



The leadings of instinct are by no means so un- 

 erring as some would have us believe. I have 

 known a kingfisher come to his death by plunging 

 down on to the roof of a low greenhouse, mistak- 

 ing the glitter of the glass through the shrubs for 

 water. Insects are continually fluttering against 

 the top - lights from inside, especially butterflies, 



p 



