222 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



During the first fortnight of October little parties 

 of fieldfares from Scandinavia drift over the fields, 

 chuckling in their throaty way, redwings are seen, 

 our wood -pigeons are reinforced by countless thou- 

 sands from overseas, snipe come in, woodcock will 

 soon be here, parties of goldcrests, newly arrived, 

 cry their sharp notes among the larches, and the 

 winter flocks of tits, with goldcrests, tree-creepers, 

 and nuthatches busily move in the woods. Every- 

 where birds are in flocks. Chaffinches, greenfinches, 

 and sparrows move in vast congregations, plovers 

 circle in clouds above the fallows, flocks of rooks unite 

 in the evening and thousands upon thousands of 

 starlings rise, fall, and circle in perfect unison, filling 

 the air with the rushing noise of wings. 



Many animals snuggle together for warmth in bitter 

 weather as the squirrels and the rats. Those who 

 go ratting in hedges and dells in the winter 

 The Com- know they may try a dozen freshly used 

 Rats 6S burrows without finding a rat when sud- 

 denly from a single hole the rats will come 

 pouring out in a stream of fur. Twenty or more rats 

 will lie together in one hole. They are clever enough 

 to block up a hole on the windward side to keep out 

 the draught so that a rat-hole newly stopped with 

 soil, turnip leaves, or grass, is almost certain in- 

 dication that rats are within. They store food for 

 winter, and the keeper may find it more difficult to 



