Immediately a crowd of birds rise out of the withies, where they have been roosting, and scatter into the night.

They are redwings and thrushes; every withy-bed is full of them.

After wheeling about in the air they will presently return--first one, then three or four, and finally the flock, to their roosting-place.
It is easy now to walk through the wood without making a noise: there is room to pass between the stoles of ash; and the dead sticks that would have cracked under foot are covered with snow.

But be careful how you step; for in some places the snow has fallen upon a mass of leaves filling a swampy hollow.

Above there is a thin crust of snow, but under the leaves the oozy ground is still soft.
Upon the dark pines the snow has lodged, making the boughs bend downwards.