AMONG THE BIRDS IN WINTER. 285 



wanders far from a chosen district, returning 

 yearly to its old haunts, and if not molested is 

 very tame and confiding. It loves to feed on 

 beech-mast, and frequents the shrubberies and 

 newly-manured fields. Rooks and Starlings are 

 also birds of a wintry landscape, generally to be 

 found in flocks near dung-heaps, and on pastures 

 and newly-ploughed fields. In hard weather 

 these birds often suffer severely from hunger ; 

 but they usually retire to more open districts 

 if the frost continues long. Another little bird 

 often seen near dung-heaps at this season is the 

 Meadow Pipit. The Tree Pipit is migratory, 

 and leaves the fields in autumn, when the Meadow 

 Pipit quits the moors and takes up his residence 

 on them. Both are migratory, yet the one retires 

 to a warmer land, the other only from the hills 

 to the lower grounds. A few Wagtails, Common 

 Buntings, and Stonechats are also seen about 

 manure heaps in winter. The latter bird is 

 another of those species that shift their ground 

 with the change of season. In spring and summer 

 it loves the upland gorse coverts, but deserts them 

 to a bird in the late autumn. The stubbles, when 

 free of snow, are full of birds. Flocks of Skylarks 

 live upon them ; Lesser Redpoles, Linnets, Wood 

 Larks, and Tree Sparrows pay them repeated 

 visits. In the plantations and shrubberies adjoin- 

 ing the fields we sometimes come across a winter 

 gathering of Hawfinches. This bird is more or 



