THE COMING THAW 



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play, and often would spit at each other like cats. 

 They grew up tame and timid, but the red hairs deve- 

 loped themselves in due time, and our hope of being able 

 to rear a couple of black foxes soon faded. 



On the 2ist of May I climbed up to the crow's nest 

 which I discovered on 

 the iith, and found that 

 it contained five eggs. 

 I had a good view of 

 the parent birds, and as- 

 certained that they were 

 hybrids between the car- 

 rion-crow and the hoodie. 

 The wind was south-west, 

 but there was no sunshine 

 and it froze hard. Farther 

 south, however, the thaw- 

 must have been going 

 on apace. The river kept 

 steadily rising. When the 

 water first broke in upon 

 the sailors, who were cut- 

 ting away the ice from 

 under the Thames, it rose 

 to four feet on the ship's 

 bow. On the 2ist it 

 stood at eight feet. I 

 had a short round in the 

 forest in the afternoon, and scarcely saw a bird. One 

 was, however, new to me. At first I thought it was a 

 tit. It was flitting about from tree to tree, apparently 

 seeking insects on the trunks below the level of the 

 surface snow, in the hollows round the stems caused by 

 the heat of the sun absorbed by their dark surfaces. It 



OSTIAK COSTUME 



