The Mouchers Calendar 127 



the autumn dandelion are plentiful and while the ears 

 left by the gleaners may still be found. But in the 

 shadowless winter days, hard and cold, each scattered 

 straw is sought for. 



A few days before the new year [1879] opened I 

 saw a yellow-hammer attacking, in a very ingenious 

 manner, a straw that hung pendent, the ear down- 

 wards, from the post of a windy gateway. She 

 fluttered up from the ground, clung to the ear, and 

 outspread her wings, keeping them rigid. The 

 draught acted on the wings, just as the breeze does 

 on a paper kite, and there the bird remained sup- 

 ported without an effort while the ear was picked. 

 Now and then the balance was lost, but she was soon 

 up again, and again used the wind to maintain her 

 position. The brilliant cockbirds return in the early 

 spring, or at least appear to do so, for the habits of 

 birds are sometimes quite local. 



It is probable that in severe and continued frost 

 many hedgehogs die. On January 19 [1879], in the 

 midst of the sharp weather, a hedgehog came to the 

 door opening on the garden at night, and was taken 

 in. Though carefully tended, the poor creature died 

 next day : it was so weak it could scarcely roll itself 

 into a ball. As the vital heat declined the fleas 

 deserted their host and issued from among the spines. 



