564 Migration of Birds, &c. By Dr Charles Stuart. 



that it was impossible to proceed farther. The snow in a very powdery- 

 state was blown by a furious east wind through key-holes and chinks into 

 the house. To those exposed to its influence, its effects were blinding— the 

 roads becoming impassable. 2nd Mar. the weather was worse and worse — 

 the storm raged with unprecedented fury, so much so that at daybreak the 

 country disclosed a scene fortunately very rarely seen in this climate. The 

 roads were in a state of blockade from snow-drifts ; railways the same — so 

 much so that neither letters nor newspapers were received here from 

 Monday morning till Wednesday evening at 9 p.m. Being the Duns hiring 

 day, many of the farm servants reached the town to find themselves either 

 storm-staid, or unable to extricate themselves from the drift. The train 

 from Duns only reached Auchencrow Lye, when it stuck ; and the passen- 

 gers unable to proceed farther, came on with great difficulty through the 

 snow to Chirnside and neighbourhood. One poor man who missed the 

 train, in making his way past Edrom Newton, was overcome ; and passed 

 the night at the corner of the road leading to Allanton. Some mill-workers 

 rescued him in the early morning, or he would have perished. I saw him 

 several times after being brought home, as he was confined to his bod from 

 his exposure. Personally I had six hours experience of the worst of the 

 storm on foot, for no horse or wheels could travel on the roads here. 

 Frequently up to the arm-pits in wreaths, in company with my groom, we 

 walked six miles, but by getting into bare places iu the fields we were able 

 to return in a Jong cart and pair of horses, with two other men, who with 

 spades helped to clear a track when blown up. After perspiring so freely 

 in going, the chill experienced in riding home complete^ knocked myself 

 and man up for several days. In forty years no one recollects the roads to 

 have been so completely blocked. The people connected with the road 

 were put to the greatest inconvenience in clearing a passage. For nine 

 days a wreath of snow on the road below my house barred all passage to 

 the South for horse or wheels. A message on the 7th, at midnight to an 

 urgent case, put me on my metal. I have_ often been exposed to severe 

 weather, but such another excursion as on this occasion I was forced to 

 make was a new experience. The roads were cut in some places, and it 

 was like driving into a railway cutting, with the high banks of snow on 

 each side ; the wheels grating on both sides against the narrow passage. 

 A walking pace could alone be indulged in ; this at midnight, with 16° of frost 

 can be imagined : I of course remained all the rest of the night, 5_j miles 

 out, and managed to scramble home next day. While the wintry sun was 

 shining brightly in my little greenhouse, I managed to catch a Queen Wasp, 

 Vespa vulgaris. One also seen at Carham, (Mr J. Hardy), which I trust may 

 be a token of better weather. Frost and snow still persisted till the 13th, 

 when a fresh storm with heavy showers of hail and snow, which were 

 repeated on the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th, when it became decidedly 

 fresher. As may be imagined during this period, our feathered friends 

 endured great privations. Ten species of birds fed every morning in front 

 of our sitting room window. They were mostly in a starving condition 

 and fed fearlessly, on whatever was put out for them. Rooks, Jackdaws, 



