42 BIRD LIFE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR 



private grounds, where the lawns afford constant food 

 and the shrubberies ample shelter. No thrush would 

 think of building in the bare hedge-rows for a month to 

 come. Watching the flocks of Peewits on moor or 

 fallow, we may notice that many a wanton lapwing 

 who now " gets himself another crest " has also 

 selected a mate. A pair of Water Ouzels, earlier than 

 the rest, may already be carrying moss to the nest 

 which they repair each spring. They work only in the 

 early morning and are not seen in its vicinity during 

 the day. Song Thrushes, Fieldfares and Skylarks 

 have come straggling back since the frost took its 

 departure, only to shift their quarters if a February 

 snowfall occurs, bringing the Golden Plover again to 

 the coast. Linnets, which we so seldom saw in mid- 

 winter, are again in evidence, and in the fields are the 

 first returning parties of Meadow Pipits and Pied 

 Wagtails. 



If the winter has been a severe one, food supplies are 

 now at a low ebb. All the more welcome are the ivy- 

 berries, which ripen in late February or early March. 

 Blackbirds eat them, scattering their undigested seeds 

 broadcast, and from the ivied elm in the lane Wood 

 Pigeons, which have been thinning the blue-black 

 clusters, crash out as we pass. The back of a hovering 

 Kestrel, seen from above, shows as a bright chestnut 

 spot against the hill-side. Magpies pass from orchard 

 to orchard by easy stages, halting now in a hedge-row 



