J70 CAT FROZEN. 



the wing, had a white circle round their neck like a 

 collar, which w r as at last discovered to be a regular 

 coating of frozen breath, that had thus collected 

 on the feathers, as it escaped from the bird's mouth. 

 But a still more curious instance, and very similar 

 to that of the Kites, occurred near Windsor. One 

 morning a person was employed in a yard adjoining 

 to his house, when his attention was attracted by 

 the growling of his cat, who seemed to be in violent 

 agitation, though confined to the spot on which she 

 stood. On examining the cause of her distress, it 

 appeared that she had been making her breakfast 

 on some offal scraps of meat, which had been thrown 

 there; and the place being wet, and the ther- 

 mometer at the time being fifteen degrees below 

 freezing, her feet had actually frozen to the ground, 

 and a minute or two elapsed before she could extri- 

 cate herself from her unpleasant situation. One 

 other instance we have met with, which is stated by 

 the writer to be a positive fact, and as in our view 

 of the case it is by no means unlikely to have oc- 

 curred, we give it. A peasant, in the mountainous 

 part of the South of France, observing a great- num- 

 ber of wild Ducks settled on the ice of a small river 

 that was frozen over, fired into the midst of them, 

 and was surprised to find that not one of them took 

 to flight. On going up, he found, that owing to the 

 severity of the frost, they were not only completely 

 fastened to the ice by their feet, but that nearly one 

 half were frozen to death. The above anecdotes 

 will appear less improbable, when we consider how 

 rapidly, under favourable circumstances, even in our 

 comparatively temperate winters, ice is formed, and 



