EFFECT OF GOLD ON BIRDS. 



233 



I do not think for a moment that birds die 

 from cold, even in the severest of winters, if their 

 food supply does not fail them. After the terribly 

 hard weather experienced during the first months 

 of 1895 I had a Rook shown to me hanging by its 

 claws in a tree, where it was supposed to have been 

 frozen to death ; but I knew of a number of well- 



r" 



THRUSH ON SLEEPING-PERCH. 



(Photographed by Magnesium Flashlight.) 



fed Sparrows that slept in an equally, if not more 

 exposed, situation all through the winter, without 

 taking the slightest harm, also several barn-door 

 fowls that roosted every night in an old apple-tree 

 in perfect safety, with the exception of the chanti- 

 cleer, which had some of the serrations of a 

 somewhat large single comb frostbitten. Further, 

 I never yet met with a Blackbird, Thrush, or 

 Redwing dead in such a situation as to warrant 

 me in supposing that it had been frozen to death 

 whilst asleep, although I have found lots of 



