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Notes on the Effects of the past Winter. By Andrew 

 Brotherston, Kelso. 



The extreme severity and the long duration of the winter of 

 1878-79 will be long remembered, and notes of its effects in 

 different localities will be interesting. Judging from newspaper 

 and other reports of the number of birds that have died from 

 starvation in various parts of the country, this district, as far as 

 my experience goes, has suffered comparatively little. Although 

 the frost was not so severe, or the snow so deep, as in some 

 localities, still it was very hard, the thermometer, in the vicinity 

 of Kelso, falling on two nights to 3° below zero. The effect on 

 different species and genera of birds has been very different. 

 The great majority of those that I have dissected have been in 

 excellent condition : " pined" birds were the exception ; indeed, 

 I have had more very fat birds, with fewer "pined" birds in pro- 

 portion, during the past winter, than any previous one that I can 

 remember. The fat appears to be a provision of Nature to pro- 

 tect them from the cold. 



Fieldfares and Redwings felt it most ; they suffered severely 

 in the early part of the storm ; but very few of them died while 

 they remained with us, which was not long after the storm com- 

 menced. I believe they would either go farther south or take up 

 their quarters on the coast, where there would be something 

 turning up for them after every tide. Some of them had re- 

 turned on March 10th. Wood-pigeons, for the most part, fared 

 badly ; but some were to be had in good condition throughout 

 the whole winter. In the second week of February I saw numer- 

 ous Cole- Tits (no Blue Tits ; most probably they had migrated 

 southwards) flying about and searching for insects or their larvae 

 on the trees and hedges, in their usual active manner. Chaf- 

 finches, Bramblings, Sparrows, Yellow-hammers, and other hard- 

 billed birds, have, to all appearance at present, come through the 

 ordeal with very little loss. About the usual numbers are to be 

 seen in their regular haunts, which, to the farmer and gardener, 

 is rather unfortunate. What with the destruction of birds of 

 prey, protective laws, &c, the great increase in the number of 

 the hard-billed birds in many parts of this district has become a 

 perfect pest. In many gardens about Kelso, where the seed 

 beds of the various Brassica were not protected in the spring, 



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