Birds by Land and Sea 



the night of the 1 2-1 3th February, and when I went 

 out in the early morning, a low mist covered the 

 meadows. 



As I approached a tall, bare elm, there slipped 

 from the upper branches two kestrels, which I was 

 near enough to identify on the wing ere they glided 

 into the mist. I had last seen the kestrel alone, 

 as usual in the autumn on the i6th November. 

 The frost then drove it away. It was strange to 

 meet the bird again to all appearances paired 

 immediately an unexpected snap of frost came to 

 put an edge on the soft, springlike weather which 

 had preceded it for some weeks. For the same 

 reason that frost drives away birds from a given 

 district, it will bring strangers into that district, 

 receding before a similar visitation in the surrounding 

 country. 



So unusually mild a February was not allowed 

 to pass out peacefully. The south-west winds, 

 which had characterized the winter throughout, 

 developed into a terrific gale in the early hours 

 of the morning of the 27th, the wind running for 

 three hours with a velocity of sixty-six miles an 

 hour, and at times attaining ninety miles an hour. 



I was out in the meadows at the height of the 

 gale, and was struck by the behaviour of the rooks 

 under the unusual circumstances. About a hundred 

 and fifty birds, all facing windward, and packed in a 

 serried mass upon an area which at ordinary times 

 would have afforded elbow-room for no more than 



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