KINDLY SNOW 71 



pleasure that one can watch gulls flying round a ship. 

 The flakes look black overhead, then shine white as they 

 near the ground ; and if they are large they float in a to- 

 and-fro chasse that suggests the flight of a butterfly. But 

 they are fairest when they lie on a frozen ground in full 

 sunshine. We know that each snowfall is individual, in 

 the sense that the crystals of each fall differ in structure 

 from the snow of any other fall ; and we feel it, though 

 we cannot see the nice and detailed delicacy that the 

 microscope reveals* On some days the surface is much 

 more thickly diamonded than on others. More facets 

 catch the sun, not only because the crystals differ, but 

 because the petals lie lightlier on one another and owing 

 to temperature and the size of the petals more air is 

 caught between them. It is my belief that a number of 

 animals are very sensitive to this quality in a snowy 

 covering. The effect on them is more than aesthetic. 

 For example : 



In a Northern county, while the sun was shining with 

 spring brightness, I walked with an agricultural labourer 

 through a field that had been left very much in the rough. 

 That lusty and stately grass which rejoices in the good 

 English name of Cocksfoot entirely possessed the place. 

 It was a forest of seed-heads, but between the uprights 

 were pent roofs of stout stems laid at all sorts of angles. 

 The snow was in deep patches ; the only sign of life 

 was a finch or two feeding on grass seed. Not even 

 tracks or slots of bird or mammal could be found : but 

 as we walked we found the field alive with game, both 

 pheasants and partridges, lying so closely that they 

 would hardly be disturbed. They had made snuggeries 

 exactly like the &quot; forms/* commonly used by hares and 

 to a less degree by rabbits ; and it was thought that 

 there were many more birds there in the time of snow 



