In the midst of the snow.

December 3.

The first snow of consequence fell in the evening, very damp (wind northeast); five or six inches deep in morning, after very high wind in the night. 

Snowbirds in garden in the midst of the snow in the afternoon.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, December 3, 1854

The first snow of consequence fell in the evening, very damp (wind northeast); five or six inches deep in morning. See November 12, 1859 ("The first sprinkling of snow, which for a short time whitens the ground in spots."); November 18, 1855 ("About an inch of snow fell last night, but the ground was not at all frozen or prepared for it. A little greener grass and stubble here and there seems to burn its way through it this forenoon."); November 23, 1852 ("There is something genial even in the first snow, and Nature seems to relent a little of her November harshness."); November 24, 1860 ("Though a slight touch, this was the first wintry scene of the season. The rabbits in the swamps enjoy it, as well as you."); November 29, 1856 (“[S]nows slowly and interruptedly with a little fine hail all day till it is several inches deep. This the first snow I have seen . . .”); December 8, 1850 ( . . ."the ground is now covered, - our first snow, two inches deep. . . . I am struck by this sudden solitude and remoteness that these places have acquired. The dear privacy and retirement and solitude which winter makes possible! This evening for the first time the new moon is reflected from the frozen snow-crust.”)

Snowbirds in garden in the midst of the snow in the afternoon. See December 1, 1856 ("Slate-colored snowbirds flit before me in the path, feeding on the seeds on the snow, the countless little brown seeds that begin to be scattered over the snow,"); see also A Book of the Seasons by Henry Thoreau, the Dark-eyed Junco (Fringilla hyemalis)