BIRD-LIFE IN A SPRING SNOWSTORM. 303 



together and covered by the parents, and so protected 

 from the inclement conditions. But the question how 

 they could have been fed is a difficult one. 



Early in April I had found a Robin's nest on a wayside 

 bank. It was situated, not in a crevice, but on the flat 

 ground at the top of the bank, under a thick tuft of old 

 grass. It was at the extremity of a kind of tunnel, roofed 

 over by some pieces of stick and the thick tangled grass. 



The Robin's nest M^as at the top of the bank on the right hand of 

 the photograph. 



On the 21st it contained six eggs, and I placed in it two 

 more, from a deserted nest not far off, so that it contained 

 the large number of eight eggs. I had never yet seen the 

 bird on the nest, and the eggs were cold and remained so, 

 so that I thought the bird had deserted in consequence 

 of my intermeddling in her domestic matters. On the 

 23rd came the great snow, and the following morning the 

 nest was buried under drifts from one to two feet deep. 

 The snow had drifted through the hedge, and formed 



