134 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
As if in intimation of the severe weather of January, we had— 
what is most unusual in this locality—some very sharp frosts 
in the middle of November, the mercury falling to 27°, 25°, and 
24° on the nights of the 16th, 17th and 18th. However, the 
weather became mild for the rest of the month and the early part 
of December ; again, in the last week of that month, a smart frost 
set in for a few nights; but this went off, and on the 7th January 
a frost so hard set in as to stop all farm work, such as ploughing 
or digging, and on the 11th some snow fell, followed by more on 
the 12th, covering the ground nearly to a depth of seven or eight 
inches, accompanied by such intense frost that night that the 
mercury fell to 11°, and as the bogs and loughs became frozen 
over, great numbers of Wild Ducks were driven down to the sands 
next day. The small birds then began to look poorly, for the 
snow that fell was so fine and dry that it penetrated into and 
under every bush and hedge, leaving no place uncovered where 
they could feed, consequently all had to take to the shore to 
search for food amongst the stones and sea-weed. On the 14th 
I saw about the shore and sands, Rooks, Magpies, Blackbirds, 
Thrushes, Fieldfares, Redwings, Larks, Titlarks, Starlings, Hedge- 
sparrows, Robins, Stonechats, Chaffinches, and a few Yellow- 
hammers, and found a Redwing starved to death. 
We began feeding the small birds on the lawn close to the 
door, but found it almost impossible to prevent the Rooks eating 
up everything, although they were fed with the fowls in the stable- 
yard. With the addition of Missel Thrushes and Black-headed 
Gulls, and some Tits, all the above-mentioned birds came to be 
fed, but notwithstanding a regular supply of food was frequently 
put out during the day, yet the numbers of each kind coming to 
be fed diminished daily, so that when the thaw set in on the 26th 
our poor pensioners had dwindied away to eight or ten Blackbirds, 
two or three Thrushes, and an odd Starling or two, but of course 
the Rooks were in full force and numbers, though some had 
become very weak. ‘The Yellowhammers and Finches mostly 
_kept near the barn-door, where they had an abundance of refuse 
corn and seeds, and therefore were better off than the other birds. 
We had more snow on the night of the 15th, and the cold was so 
severe that the thermometer registered 25° of frost, which covered 
the tidal part of the Moy from Castleconnor Point to above the 
Shipping Quay with a thick coat of ice, completely closing the 
