BIRD-LIFE IN FIELD AND HEDGEROW. 133 



the fields, and rarely go short in a district where 

 long-continued frosts and snowfalls are almost 

 unknown. We are told by some naturalists that 

 the Redwing is one of the first birds to perish 

 from cold, but this is an error. Cold seldom if 

 ever kills so long as food is obtainable, and the 

 frost is the sole secret of the high mortality 

 amongst this species during severe winters. It 

 seals their feeding-grounds and they starve, while 

 the berry-eating Fieldfare suffers little or no incon- 

 venience. It is only as a last resource that the 

 Redwing takes to the harder berries. The Song 

 Thrush feels the pinch of hunger before the 

 Blackbird, because snails during severe weather 

 are often hard to find. Dry weather, if long-con- 

 tinued, also places this bird on short supplies. 

 These snails are exceptionally numerous in wet 

 weather; and then, as we wander along the hedge- 

 side, we may often watch the Song Thrush making 

 a meal from them. His methods are certainly 

 interesting. We have often watched him quite 

 unsuspected at a distance of a few paces. The 

 immortal Mrs. Glasse tells us " first to catch our 

 hare ; " the Song Thrush first catches his snail, 

 sometimes by poking about at the bottom of the 



