Birds by Land and Sea 



at variance with the rules man has laid down tor his 

 own dieting. In summer, most land birds feed on 

 flesh, whether in the form of grub, or worm, or 

 insect ; in the cold of winter, their diet is of 

 necessity chiefly a vegetable one, consisting almost 

 entirely of berries. That a bird's temperature is 

 considerably higher than that of man would only 

 render it more sensitive to the effects of cold, for the 

 higher temperature means an enhanced vitality, and 

 the quicker pace of life a greater wastage. If animal 

 food be necessary for the maintenance of bodily 

 heat, it would seem to be more necessary for bird 

 than for man. Has Nature blundered in her 

 economy, or is the mistake the birds' own in 

 remaining to face a fearful mortality where food is 

 both insufficient and unsuitable ? That it is not 

 over-palatable appears from the fact that in a mild 

 winter the berries remain on the boughs until they 

 wither. 



October is not all grey : some night both 

 cloud and mist slip quietly away, and in the keen 

 starlight the white rime is laid upon the fields. 

 The following day breaks bright and sharp like an 

 early spring morning, and only man, who looks both 

 u after and before," knows that it is in truth but 

 the sunset of the year. 



The rooks, however, which, even out of the 

 breeding season, daily visit a large rookery near my 

 home, immediately set to work to transform their 

 nests. The sticks and twigs are transferred from 



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