349 
XX VL 
DECEMBER 31st. 
Drifted Snow. — Inconvenience of intense Cold little felt — Effects more 
external than internal. — Frozen Feet of Poultry. — Semi-congelation 
of Water. — Sleigh-riding. — Occupations of Winter. — Tending Stock. 
— Threshing. — Cutting Fuel — Rails. — Brown Creeper. — Grubs of 
Beetles. — Winter Gnat. — Snow-bunting. — Yellow-birds [Pine-finch, 
note], — Gleam of the Woodman's Axe. — Arvicola. — Insects. — Hip- 
pohosca. — Blue Jay. — Size of Trees. — Structure of Trees. — Death by 
Girdling. — Excrescences. — Close of the Year. — Conclusion. 
Charles. — What curious and beautiful forms the drifted 
snow assumes ! here it lies in gentle undulations^ swelling 
and sinking ; there in little ripples, like the sand of a sea 
beach ; — here it stands up like a perpendicular wall ; there 
like a conical hill : — here it is a long deep trench ; there a 
flat overhanging table ; but one of the prettiest sights is that 
which is presented by a lumber- shed hung with cobwebs, 
after a drift. The snow in greater or less masses has at- 
tached itself to the cobwebs, and hangs from the rafters and 
walls, and from corner to corner, in graceful drapery of the 
purest white ; but of such fantastic shapes, as we don't 
readily see. 
Father. — The heavy masses of snow which rest on the 
flat horizontal boughs of the spruces and hemlocks after a 
fall, are striking and beautiful : but these must be gently 
deposited, or they will not rest ; they are not drifted ; a very 
slight wind is sufficient to shake them off. 
