FEBRUARY. 25 



perhaps in the very next field she sees a foolish 

 thrush attempting to cross the open space below her. 

 With half-closed wings she glides slowly, it seems, 

 at first down towards the hurrying victim. Swifter 

 and swifter grows the descent, and almost before you 

 realize that she is gaining, the two specks touch, and 

 feathers floating in the air mark the spot where it 

 happened. It looks so easy and simple. 



THE WEATHER AND THE BIRDS. 



February 13. The weather of 1902 continued in 

 February to follow the previous year's unpleasant 

 precedents with almost offensive fidelity ; for it was to- 

 wards the end of the second week in February that the 

 winter of 1900-01 shut down upon us with its coldest 

 " snap." Indeed, it has become rather the rule of our 

 British climate that as Valentine's Day approaches the 

 birds should have to think of saving their lives from 

 starvation instead of pairing and frivolity. Fortunately, 

 many of us understand and try to practise our duty 

 to our feathered neighbours in hard weather, and 

 in the country, at any rate the garden is rare where 

 a " bird table " is not spread for the starving crowds 

 of mites that cannot dig in the hard ground and are 

 afraid to beg. 



WELCOME AND UNWELCOME GUESTS. 



The gluttony of the omnivorous house-sparrows, 

 however, sometimes chokes charity at its source. 

 Sparrows are never really in danger of starvation, 

 like the soft-billed birds which depend upon Nature's 



