COUNTRY LIFE
Flying from Frost
The snow and frost did not altogether stop the songs of thrush and robin ; but general vitality fell ; and local migrations of a sudden impulse took place. The one example that has been " in the news " is the arrival of many hundred larks in towns. Before this appearance was reported it was noticed on a Hertfordshire common where larks usually abound that not a single bird was to be seen. What these birds and a good many others must have if life is to be maintained is open ground. What they find in open ground is in fact a mystery. How often do the starlings, which dibble the lawn or green persistently inch by inch, discover a carnal morsel ? Some birds, of course, live by grazing. The partridge is as persistent an eater of greens as the goose on the village green or in the wild ; and the pheasant will peck up the bulbous roots of the buttercup. Not all birds are grazers ; and for the rest the open ground is found to be much fuller of fallen seeds and the microscopic bits of dead insects than people of grosser vision may easily believe. Larks, though insect-eaters at the due season, can change their diet; and they are disliked by many farmers for their habit of laying bare and probably eating the bleached parts of the autumn-sown wheat. Their numbers are, of course, greatly multiplied in winter by incursions from Scandinavia.
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