WINTER SHIFTS. 227 



to leeward, but the banks below will be free from it. 

 And as nearly all hedges have water-runs on one 

 side of them or the other, the ground is soft, and so 

 everything that lives in the banks can be got at by 

 the birds that live on snails, slugs, worms, and the 

 many various forms of insect-life in a torpid state, 

 mature or immature. The berry-eating species keep 

 more to the tops of the hedges. These are in the 

 best of spirits, for their food gleams out in the midst 

 of the snow in the most tempting fashion. Crimson 

 hips and the berries of the hawthorn are in profusion. 

 Fieldfares have gathered here, chacking and chatter- 

 ing, as they cling with their strong feet to the heavily 

 laden twigs : the snow flies off all round and about 

 them. The bullfinches that are feeding on the 

 privet-berries look like roses as you catch sight of 

 their brilliant breasts, while they cling and flutter 

 and pipe within a few yards of you. Wild fruit is in 

 the pink of condition when the cold weather sets in: 

 it becomes sweet and smooth, instead of being acrid 

 and rough as it was. 



If by some rare chance any of the clustered berries 

 of the mountain-ash are left, they will be fiercely 

 fought for. The ring-ousel, the blackbird of the 



