EFFECTS OF FROST. 139 



equal if not more extraordinary nature. Thus, a writer who 

 kept a journal in 1658, in speaking of the winter of that year, 

 alludes to it as the severest ever known in England, and, 

 amongst other things, adds, that Crows were taken with their 

 feet frozen to their prey.* In Scotland, also, during a severe 

 frost, a Heron was found struggling on the ice ; it seems the 

 foot on which it had heen standing, had been during the 

 night completely frozen up ; probably when first it settled on 

 the previous evening, the surface was in a fluid state, but a 

 severe frost setting in, the foot was soon encrusted with 

 ice, and the bird fettered to the spot. Again, in one of 

 Captain Sir Edward Parry's Northern Expeditions, the hand 

 of a marine was so dreadfully frost-bitten, that it was found 

 necessary to amputate some of the fingers ; previously to 

 which, by way of restoring circulation gradually to the parts 

 which had not been frost-bitten, the man's hand was dipped 

 in cold water, when to the great surprise of the medical 

 attendants, the water was seen to congeal round the frozen 

 joints for a considerable length of time after its immersion. 

 In another of his expeditions, it was observed that the Eavens 

 which were seen on the wing had a white circle round their 

 neck like a collar, which was at last discovered to be a regular 

 coating of frozen breath, that had thus collected on the 

 feathers, as it escaped from the bird's mouth. But a still 

 more curious instance, and very similar to that of the Kites, 

 occurred near Windsor. One morning a person was employed 

 in a yard adjoining to his house, when his attention was 

 attracted by the growling of his cat, who seemed to be in 

 violent agitation, though confined to the spot on which she 

 stood. On examining the cause of her distress, it appeared 

 that she had been making her breakfast on some offal scraps 

 of meat, which had been thrown there ; and the place being 

 wet, and the thermometer at the time being fifteen degrees 

 below freezing, her feet had actually frozen to the ground, 

 and a minute or two elapsed before she could extricate herself 

 from her unpleasant situation. One other instance we have 



* EVELYN'S Memoirs. 



