n6 A BIRD COLLECTOR'S MEDLEY. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

 THE MEADOWS IN WINTER. 



THE water-meadows in winter ! The prospect, it must be confessed, is 

 not an inviting one, save, perhaps, to the ardent naturalist or the Snipe- 

 shooter. It is too suggestive of damp feet, sore throats, colds, and possibly 

 ague, to find favour with the average individual ; and yet how attractive an 

 insight into the life of many of our most interesting birds can then be picked 

 up by anyone who is content to spend a single month in the diligent 

 observation of ten or a dozen acres of ordinary Hampshire water- 

 meadows. 



It is a muggy December day, and, as you enter the first field, there rises 

 in scattered and irregular detachments a flock of Fieldfares and Redwings, 

 which are eagerly taking advantage of this short spell of mild weather to 

 lay in provender against hard times to come. To-day they are as wild 

 as Hawks, but when the snow and frost have lasted for a week and driven 

 them to the bushes, even the Fieldfares will let you come close to them as 

 they struggle with noisy chorus for the fast failing supply of berries to 

 which they are now reduced for sustenance. The Redwings suffer most, as 

 they are not really berry feeders ; some approach the houses and frequent our 

 gardens, but many may be picked up quite dead or helpless, and benumbed 

 by cold and hunger. 



We shall not see many of the larger birds to-day. The Plovers are 

 feeding in the uplands, the Snipe well, he may or may not be there ; if he 

 is, he will in all probability lie well, and be as fat as butter. It is the smaller 

 birds that are in force : Skylarks and Titlarks swarm in every field, and take 

 absolutely no notice of your approach, and the Kingfisher darts along the 

 winding brook. Kingfishers appear in a marvellous way at this season, though 

 many are never seen together. I met a man who had shot a dozen within 

 a week from a single garden, and yet, walking in the meadows round, one 

 would never have supposed that there were more than a couple in the neigh- 

 bourhood. Perhaps, however, as is the case with Falcons, single pairs reserve 



