A GREAT FROST 225 



would follow suit, putting their long necks between 

 the rails. The birds, however, fared better than 

 before ; thrushes, blackbirds, robins, dunnocks, pied 

 wagtails, meadow pipits and one grey wagtail were the 

 usual feeders ; the daws, too, would occasionally pluck 

 up courage enough to drop down between the railings 

 and snatch up something. 



One of my guests was a robin of exceptionally 

 small size with a withered leg. This bird was first 

 brought to me one evening by some of the children, 

 who had caught it in the schoolroom, and thought I 

 would be able to do something for it. A more piti- 

 able object could not be imagined ; it was nothing 

 but a little feathered skeleton ; the " comfortable little 

 red waistcoat with legs to it " was now a sharp keel, 

 but behind the bone one could feel the little muscular 

 heart working away violently. One leg was crushed 

 above the knee and was now dead and dried, the 

 closed claws hardened into a ball. I assured them 

 that nothing could be done to save it, that the most 

 merciful thing we could do would be to let it fly 

 away into the bushes, where it would quickly fall 

 asleep and die without pain in the intense cold. I 

 opened my hand and it darted away into the black 

 bitter night, but great was my surprise next morning, 

 when looking at the company gathered at the window, 

 to find the wasted little cripple among them, eagerly 

 picking up crumbs ! I was foolishly pleased to see it 

 there ; nevertheless it was a pity that it had survived 

 the night and in the end lived through the frost, 

 seeing that a hopelessly injured and maimed bird 



