. Bird life throughout the year . ent the Thames between Black-friars Bridge and Waterloo. The hardened powdery snow no longer shows thefoot-prints of passing bird and beast as in its earlierdays. So the great frost runs its course, sometimes tobreak up and give way before a sudden invasion ofwesterly airs, but often to wear out slowly, yieldingalmost imperceptibly before the increasing power of thesun, unaided by moisture-laden winds—a hardly-wonvictory, so nearly is the ground gained each day lostduring the succeeding night. But at last the landlies bare once more, faded and colourless as af
. Bird life throughout the year . ent the Thames between Black-friars Bridge and Waterloo. The hardened powdery snow no longer shows thefoot-prints of passing bird and beast as in its earlierdays. So the great frost runs its course, sometimes tobreak up and give way before a sudden invasion ofwesterly airs, but often to wear out slowly, yieldingalmost imperceptibly before the increasing power of thesun, unaided by moisture-laden winds—a hardly-wonvictory, so nearly is the ground gained each day lostduring the succeeding night. But at last the landlies bare once more, faded and colourless as after along spell of east winds. A few thrushes and otherbirds straggle back to their usual haunts, and we areable to take stock of our losses. A memento of thepast long remains in the whitened stems of trees, fromwhich the rabbits gnawed the bark when the snow cutoff other food supplies, leaving the wood bare as highup as they could reach. The willow-branches which ROBIN. GREAT TIT. BIRDS ATTRACTED BY O. G. JANUARY 33 overhang the pool have been treated in the same wayby the water-voles. This year of disaster has left its mark upon thenumbers of almost all resident birds ; all in fact havepaid more or less heavy toll, excepting the grain-feeders,such as greenfinches and yellow-hammers, which havetided over the evil times by hanging round the barn-doors and rick-yards. How few the thrushes andblackbirds are the coming spring will show when onescarcely finds a nest in their favourite hedges. Butfew stonechats remain. Goldfinches have becomescarcer. Some of our well-known robins are absentfrom their wonted haunts. The smallest birds—long-tailed tits, tree-creepers, wrens, goldcrests—thoughrelatively to their size they appear to stand the cold sowell—are fewer than formerly. Some species arepractically wiped out for the time being. After thefrost of 1895, nine months elapsed before we saw a singlemistle-thrush. A succession of open winters wasneeded to
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1913
