882 On the Effects of the Winter of 1879-80. 



struggling to re -establish their verdure, though I believed them to be ab- 

 solutelj'- dead in the spring of 1879. 



Cupressus Lawsonii propagates itself freely by seed at Hedgeley, being 

 quite hardy there. 



On our dry, light soil at Dunston Hill, the Cryptomeria Japonica succeeds 

 best, surpassing Thuja borealis, which prefers a moister soil and atmos- 

 phere like that of the neighbourhood of the Cheviots. 



As regards birds, the Song-thrush was very rare here last spring, but num- 

 bers came in August and September, from other districts, frequenting our 

 turnip-fields and shrubberies. They all departed in November from Dun- 

 ston Hill, whilst, for the first time, we are likewise without any Blackbirds 

 this winter, there being no berries of any kind to tempt them to stay. 



Yew-berries are the favourite food of the Song-thrush in early winter. Of 

 these there was but half a crop this season. 



Not a single Redwing or Fieldfare is visible or audible in our neighbour- 

 hood. It is probable that the small numbers of both species that can have 

 reached Britain in the autumn of 1880, after the great mortality of them 

 from cold and hunger in 1878-9, have gone far southward to the region 

 where mistletoe is plentiful, that is to say, the South of England, together 

 with Northern and Central France, with Switzerland. 



As respects the tenderness of the Redwings under the English winter, 

 though natives of Norway and Sweden, we must bear in mind that by far 

 the greater number of them, which visit us in ordinary autumns, are 

 assuredly little more than nestlings, which perhaps could barely fly at the 

 end of the preceding June, owing to the lateness of spring in the high 

 latitudes they inhabit during the fine season. Consequently they are not so 

 vigorous as even our youpg Song-thrushes, which were capable of flying six 

 weeks or two months earlier. The same is true, in a lesser degree of Field- 

 fares, of which the younger ones suffer severely. It is pretty certain that 

 the young of our English Missel- thrushes migrate largely into France, as 

 there is a great accession of the species there in October and November. 

 Their annual arrival is hailed by the bird-catchers, and by the epicures, with 

 especial interest. A French cook will send up a dish of Missel-thrushes and 

 Redwings in an irresistible form to the best tables, each bird enveloped in 

 some delicate jelly of pearly hue ; not in the rude and naked fashion which 

 an EngUsh cook would be content to follow. 



Middleton Ball, Wooler. By George P. Hughes, Esq. 



At Middleton Hall, our chief loss has been in Laurels, killed by the frost 

 of November, 1879. I had promised to plant the north side of the Ilderton 

 Chtirch with Portugal Laurels, but when we went to lift them last spring, 

 we found the best pLmts, 6 or 7 feet high, growing in a mossy cut with the 

 shelter of a young plantation behind, completely killed to the root. In our 

 garden, large Laurel hedges have been killed to the main stem, but are send- 

 ing out fresh branches in the majority of cases. "We had many flowers, 

 especially Roses and Geraniums, killed in the greenhouse during last and the 



