Country Life
By IAN NIALL pREOCCUPIED with our own creature comforts since the cold weather returned—as I write this we are still looking •-ut at a garden that seems tidy only because o everything is frob..bound and motionless—we forgot the birds until it was noticed that large numbers were crowding in the hedge. A few bits of bread and scraps of fat were ,put out, and immediately many more birds converged on the garden. The sharp-eyed jackdaws sailed down to rob the thrushes and sparrows. The bullies, as always, came off best, and only the tameness of near-starvation brought the smaller birds close to the door where, iri spite of everything, the greedy 'daws and blackbirds were less inclined to venture. While this was going on, a long, undulating ribbon of lapwings went over, searching the countryside for a bit of ground on which they could feed. I wondered about the large numbers of oyster- catchers we saw on the day before this second wave of winter came. They must have been finding it hard to survive. There was a sheath of ice on the tideline and a wind blowing oin of the east—the wind that is kind to no one, hunter or hunted. Many days of such weather mean that the death-roll among birds is high. By chance, when I switched on the radio, it was to hear an appeal to listeners to feed birds during the cold spell-4 thing I think most thoughtful people do.
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