Cats catch all the birds that come in from the cold. Wagtails retire to brooks, & rivulets; there they find the aureliae of water-insects. Titmice pull the mosses & lichens off from the trees in quest of grubs &c: Nuthatches do the same.
Rooks come to dunghills close to houses. Sky-larks resort to farm-yards.
The brambling appears in farm-yards among the chaffinches. It is rare in these parts.
Rugged, Siberian weather. The narrow lanes are full of snow in some places, which is driven into the most romantic, & grotesque shapes. The road-waggons are obliged to stop, & the stage-coaches are much embarassed. I was obliged to be much abroad on this day, & scarce ever saw its fellow.
The snow is drifted-up to the tops of gates, & the lanes are full. Poultry do not stir-out of the hen-houses: they are amazed, & confounded in snow, & would soon perish.
A very deep snow. Poor birds begin to be distress’d, & to come in a door: hares do not stir yet. Hares lie-by at first, ’til compelled to beat-out by hunger.
Grey & white wagtails appear every day; they never leave us.
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