T 82 Among the Birds in Northern Shires. 



when it arrives or departs, and living here for months 

 in this warm corner in the fields, in solitary state, 

 a recluse waxing fat in its solitude. Then winter 

 comes round once more. All the summer birds of 

 farm and garden are far beyond the seas; new birds 

 are here from other and sterner lands. The snow- 

 storms come, and the birds congregate in rich variety 

 about the ricks and farmsteads ; flocks of Lapwings 

 cross over the fields bewildered and forlorn; the 

 Moorhen leaves the frozen pond and fraternizes with 

 the poultry ; the Larks disappear from the snow- 

 drifted high lands; the Fieldfares congregate in the 

 hawthorns, the Redwings starve. At night the 

 scene becomes even more interesting as half-frozen 

 birds seek roosting-places in the ricks and amongst 

 the ivy; yet amidst frost and snow the Robin and 

 the Wren, and perhaps the Hedge Accentor, carol 

 forth an evening song. The snow melts; the once 

 green pastures are brown and withered; scarcely a 

 fleck of green relieves field or hedgerow, the birds 

 scatter on to the open ground again, and so the 

 northern winter runs its course. How different in 

 the warmer southern county, where all is green, and 

 the visit of winter so light that it is scarcely felt by 

 bird or beast! 



Garden bird-life is too familiar to require much 

 detailed notice here. The garden hedge we know 

 is always sure to contain one of the first Hedge 



