264 ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



heaps on the sodden ground, the tall weeds stand 

 brown and sapless, the noble ferns are prostrate, 

 the bracken is fast crumbling away. The bare 

 branches bend and lash like whips before the 

 heightening gale, and even the very densest of 

 thickets and coppices scarcely impede our vision 

 now. The brilliant berries of the autumn still 

 hang upon the briars and thorns, now mellowed 

 and made more palatable by the early frosts, a 

 winter garner for a feathered army. As soon as 

 the deciduous trees and shrubs have lost their 

 leafy covering, the evergreens stand boldly out in 

 bright relief, the scarlet holly berries, and the 

 wax-like seed of the mistletoe, which grows in 

 yellow clusters on the poplars and the hawthorns, 

 forming a garnish beautiful in the extreme. All 

 these are signs of a changing season. Then the 

 winter days creep on apace. Morning after 

 morning the white frosts increase in magic beauty, 

 and now and then a fitful shower of snow or sleet 

 drives across the hills, an omen of keener weather 

 yet to come. 



Instinctively the various wild creatures feel the 

 terrors of winter coming on ; the birds crowd into 

 the sheltered districts, or wander up and down the 

 country unsettled and anxious ; the animals that 

 lie dormant through the cold hurry into their snug 

 retreats, and in torpor await the spring; those not 

 so constituted don their warm winter coats and 

 bid defiance to the elements. Then comes the 

 first heavy fall of snow, silently and suddenly in 



