DECEMBER 303 



not from hunger, apparently, for the storm only 

 lasted three days, and the crops of most of them were 

 crammed with young grass; nor was the cold so 

 intense, although aggravated by the gale, as to account 

 for their death. Probably they were buried in drifts, 

 although sheep have been known to live three weeks 

 under the snow, and the blood temperature of a 

 partridge is several degrees higher than a sheep's. 



It was interesting to watch the businesslike proceed- 

 ings of the starlings. Unlike their cousins, the rooks 

 and jackdaws, these most intelligent birds do not nest 

 in colonies, but at all other times of the year they are 

 intensely gregarious. Let it be said in passing that 

 their passion for company of their own kind ought to 

 prevail upon humane persons never to keep a solitary 

 caged starling, as is too often done, seeing how greatly 

 the penalty of imprisonment is intensified for creatures 

 of social temperament and habit. 



Well, in these fierce last days of December the 

 starlings went about in gangs of twenty or thirty, 

 alighting on lawns where the snow lay thinnest. Form- 

 ing a regular line, they worked off the snow systema- 

 tically and pecked the tender grass and clover shoots. 

 Taking pity on a party of the little rascals which were 

 working just under our breakfast-room window, we 

 flung out a savoury mixture of porridge and kedgeree. 

 Immediately they sent one of their number to report 

 upon the nature of the consignment, the main body 

 continuing to prod under the snow. Now a blackbird 

 would have set to gobbling without hesitation, but a 

 blackbird is a child in intellect and wariness beside a 



