Vol. xxxvii.] 34 



Mr. Carruthers Gould said that during tlie great frost 

 he walked over the fields between East Molesey and Esher 

 in order to observe the efi'ect o£ the cold upon bird-life. 

 He picked up a dead Heron^ which appeared to have been 

 starved and showed no sign of injury. In a ditch overhung 

 by bushes and not quite frozen over he flushed a Greater 

 Spotted Woodpecker and Kingfisher. The Redwings and 

 Fieldfares had come in close to the cottages and fed upon 

 the scraps thrown out by the cottagers, and picked over the 

 horse-droppings in the road. 



The same Member stated that, as a result of the abnormally 

 cold weather, Lapwings were offered in Leadeuhall Market 

 at Sd. each, but they were all in very poor condition, and he 

 had never seen so many Blackbirds, Thrushes, Redwings, 

 and Fieldfares offered for sale in the market. 



Mr. H. B. Booth said that in his opinion many birds had 

 some fore-knowledge of approaching severe weather. In the 

 dales of West Yorkshire this was most noticeable imme- 

 diately before a sudden and sharp spell of frost and snow, 

 particularly towards the end of the year when the majority 

 of certain species hurriedly left the neighbourhood, pre- 

 sumably for the coast. The species affected were chiefly 

 Song-Thrushes, Skylarks, and Meadow-Pipits, but a sudden 

 decrease was noticeable in several other species. These were 

 facts proved by actual observation and not merely super- 

 stitious myths of the country people, though it was noticeable 

 that such superstition at times seemed to be founded on fact. 

 Thus on December 13th last a flock of about twenty Wild 

 Geese, probably Pink-footed, settled in a certain large field 

 in broad daylight, a very rare occurrence, although it is not 

 unusual for Geese to fly over this particular district. The 

 local farmers shook their heads and prophesied very bad 

 weather, a forecast which proved to be only too true, the 

 recent severe weather having been the worst for twenty-two 

 years. 



Tiie birds had had a very bad time m West Yorkshire, 

 more especially the Redwings, lied Grouse had been driven 

 from the moors and were in laj'gc flocks quite close to the 



