BIRDS AND THE GREAT SNOW. 91 



couples, which he was selling — and freely, too — at sixpence a 

 brace. I found they were exceedingly plump and in good con- 

 dition ; these birds appear loth to leave the Zostera, and to go 

 back to the Broads. This is the way with them when they have 

 once tasted this succulent vegetable. Youngs, the day before, 

 had shot a Shag, an unusual winter visitor here. 



The Gulls have now betaken themselves to their usual haunts, 

 a few only frequenting the river in the neighbourhood of the 

 town, and these the Black-heads. During the continuance of 

 bad weather these birds made themselves extremely conspicuous 

 in the heart of the town. An old lady carried a parcel of hare's 

 bones, broken pudding, and vegetables to the St. George's Park, 

 where they assembled in numbers. There was a great deal of 

 squabbling over these coveted fragments, and Woods, the park- 

 keeper, after they had devoured the softer morsels, smashed up 

 the bones. In a very short time these were cleared away also. 



As usual, the greatest sufferers were the Redwings, a fact 

 remarked on by observers who, like myself, came to the conclusion 

 that extreme cold, as much as shortness of food, seriously affects 

 this species ; and it was noticeable, too, how in an unusually 

 short time they drooped and died, while in other years, in 

 more protracted frosts, without so much snow, they did not so 

 soon succumb. Numbers were found dead at Filby, at Belton, 

 and other villages. Some Chaffinches were also found dead, but 

 Larks, as they usually do, took to the cabbage-gardens, and fed 

 freely on the cabbages, to the undoing of the gardeners, and in 

 many instances to their own. 



