127 
common as IBooks.” Enormous flocks of Dunlins frequented the 
Lreydou “muds” wlien the -weather Avas most severe; but little 
else ol note, except the usual congregation of large and smaller 
Ciulls, some of Avhich in favourable localities were so hard up for 
food, that the fisher-boys trapped them alive on the shore. 
Ihe great flight of lledwings and Fieldfares, the chief feature 
ot the December frosts, had passed southwards — the survivors at 
least— and scarcely any Avere seen later ; but the remains of many 
Avere found when the snow disappeared in the marshes surrounding 
the iJroads, and in other wild and out-of-the-way places, Avhere they 
had sought in vain for a sufficiency of berries and other food. 
Jlramblings Avhich, early in the Avinter, had been very scarce, 
appeared in considerable numbers at Yarmouth, and in some more 
inland localities, in the January frosts, Avith Snow Luntings in 
plenty ; but I heard of no l\Iealy Redpolls, or Siskin.s. Hawfinches 
and Green Woodpeckers, as will be seen by the following notes, 
sulfered considerably ; but the Kingfishers that survived the Kovcm- 
ber floods, on the eastern side of the county, must have left us for 
a time, as none, that I am aAvare of, Avere found dead duriiu' the 
frosts. ° 
Such AA^as the Avintcr ! and the so-called spring, repudiating 
altogether Ihompson’s poetic notions but closely assimilating itself 
to Tom Hood’s version of that rheumatic season, brought us more 
snow, varied Avith rain or sleet, severe frosts at times, and cold 
nights, continuously, till the birds of our gardens and sl;rubberies 
seemed as thankful for the supplementary food supplied to them 
as in the “ hard times ” of the winter itself. Such, too, was the fate 
that awaited our summer migrants, whoso insectivorous appetites it 
was impossible to provide for artificially. a rule, I have no 
reason to think that our summer visitants arrived much later than 
usual, the Nightingales certainly did not; but in such weather as 
A\e experienced in jMarch and April, it becomes a farce to register 
first appearances, as these unfortunate victims of our fickle clfmate 
no sooner reach our shores, than the keen winds by day and frosts 
at night compel them to seek the thickest shelter in our Avoods and 
plantations that backward vegetation can afford ; and many days 
may have elapsed from the time of their arrival before some sunny 
morning tempts them into song, and betrays their presence amongst 
us. Mr. T. W. Cremer, of Reeston-by-the-Sca, writing on the 23 i'd 
