How does this artwork elucidate its Description and composition?
The painting shows a wintry scene in which three hunters are returning from an expedition accompanied by their dogs.  By appearances the outing was not successful; the hunters appear to trudge wearily, and the dogs appear downtrodden and miserable. One man carries the "meager corpse of a fox" illustrating the paucity of the hunt. In front of the hunters in the snow are the footprints of a rabbit or hare—which has escaped or been missed by the hunters. The overall visual impression is one of a calm, cold, overcast day; the colors are muted whites and grays, the trees are bare of leaves, and wood smoke hangs in the air. Several adults and a child prepare food (preparing to singe a pig) at an inn with an outside fire. Of interest are the jagged mountain peaks which do not exist in Belgium or Holland.
The painting prominently depicts crows sitting in the denuded trees and a magpie flies in the upper centre of the scene.  Bruegel sometimes uses these two species of birds to indicate an ill-omen as in Dutch culture magpies are associated with the Devil.The landscape itself is a flat-bottomed valley (a river meanders through it) with jagged peaks visible on the far side. A watermill is seen with its wheel frozen stiff. In the distance, figures ice skate, play bandy (before it became an organized sport), and play eisstock ("ice-stick" - similar to curling) on a frozen lake; they are rendered as silhouettes.
fox watermill bandy eisstock curling ice skate