IRature IRotes : 
Ztbe Selbovne Society’s nDagasine. 
No. 63. MARCH, 1895. VoL. VI. 
A WHITE WORLD. 
E long for the thaw to come, for the sake of the unem- 
ployed, the suffering, the weakly ; for the sake, too, of 
the birds and animals about us. Here on the borders 
of Dartmoor we have looked out for eighteen days on 
this white world ; it is as though the earth were encased in a 
crust of frozen snow. Those who live amongst other houses 
and gardens, where there are always some kindly residents to 
throw out scraps to the birds, have no idea of the difficulty there 
is in supplying the wants of our poor feathered friends in the heart 
of the country, every day bringing in more starving outsiders. 
Have we sufficiently realised what this white world means to 
our birds? It means to them the disappearance of all their 
familiar landmarks, the freezing up of their water supplies, and the 
covering over of their happy hunting grounds with a hard, cruelly- 
cold white sheet. No wonder that at first they are bewildered, 
and flop helplessly about in search of food, especially the soft- 
billed birds, thrushes and blackbirds notably, who look in vain 
for the treasures of worms, slugs, and snails, generally to be 
found in a tempting profusion. I read a recent inquiry in 
Nature Notes as to how much birds are guided by scent in 
their search for food. Anyone who studies the habits of birds 
when feeding, especially in time of frost and snow, cannot doubt 
that sight and hearing are more to birds than scent; I am not 
now alluding to carnivorous birds of prey. When first this severe 
weather set in, many of the birds seemed dazed, unable to dis- 
tinguish food either on the dazzling snow, or even at times on 
the bare piece of gravel swept for them, even though it was hot, 
and frequently had savoury scraps off our plates mixed in their 
meal. The finches, tit-mice, and the inevitable sparrows, were 
