174 WILD NATURE IN STRATHEARN. 



birds, such as Thrushes, Blackbirds, Chaffinches, 

 Rooks, and Hedge Sparrows died from want of 

 food. 



When birds go to sleep with their beaks buried 

 amongst the feathers on the top of the wing 

 or shoulder (a bird does not sleep with its head 

 under its wing) they are well protected from 

 cold so far as their bodies are concerned, but 

 how their feet escape frost-bite is to me a 

 mystery. We believe very few birds die from 

 cold alone. It is the want of food that kills 

 them. So long as they can procure food they 

 will live through the severest winter. Thrushes 

 always fare badly in a long-continued frost; but 

 Woodcocks and Snipe are always fat when killed 

 during a storm, showing that they procure plenty 

 of food at that time probably at the various 

 springs which do not freeze. 



The instinct of birds is keen. Long before we 

 can see any signs of a thaw the Wild Fowl, that 

 have taken to the estuary during severe frost, 

 grow restless, and when the first breath of a 



