1/2 WILD NATURE IN STRATHEARN. 



Frost and snow now cover the ground, and in 

 the wood the feet sink into the soaked masses 

 of decayed leaves. In a long-continued frost 

 many birds must perish from want of food. Their 

 bodies being well protected by a covering of 

 feathers, birds are able to withstand the effects 

 of very severe cold. Morris in the second 

 edition of his work on British Birds cites a local 

 case of a Wood Pigeon found frozen to the 

 branch of a tree. Here is the paragraph : 

 " A circumstance, perhaps unprecedented in the 

 annals of freezing, was discovered here last week. 

 A person found in this neighbourhood (Crieff) 

 a Wild Pigeon literally frozen to the branch of 

 a tree, and so intense was the freeze, that the 

 individual cut the branch, and carried the Pigeon 

 home in that state alive." (Scottish Paper, Feb. 

 13th, 1838.) And the Rev. Alexander Stewart, 

 in his charming book, " Nether Lochaber," has 

 the following : " On Friday afternoon we had 

 occasion to go to look if our boat on the beach 

 was all right, for the darkening heavens 



