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sing in that situation, but will continue his note several weeks longer than one that is in a state of nature, as well being much earlier: and several birds, even when at liberty, as the redbreast, blackbird, and thrush, recommence their song in autumn, as the woodbine and some other plants blossom again at that time of the year; the scent indeed of the flowers is fainter, in this respect corresponding with the birds just mentioned, whose notes are less sprightly, and with longer intervals of silence than in spring. The reason of the vernal singing of birds being superior to the autumnal is probably owing to greater vigour of body at one time than the other. During the winter, if birds have but little to eat, yet they have nothing to do except providing themselves with food; and the increased stimulus of the weather in spring, together with the plenty of animal food that they then feed upon, such as worms, grubs of insects, &c., gives them strength and spirits for singing and propagating. But in autumn the case is widely different; the weather itself indeed may be as favourable to encourage the singing of birds as in the spring, though perhaps the languor and decrease of strength may be greater from the summer heats than the severity of winter; the fatigue, however, of bringing up a brood of young, the illness during the moulting season, and the change in food from worms to seeds and other vegetable productions, afford a sufficient and obvious reason why the singing of birds should be only partially renewed in autumn.

In April ducks and geese hatch. The young ones are covered with a yellow down, and take to the water instantly on leaving the shell, where they afford a pleasing sight as they sail under convoy of their dams.

Another of the most striking events of this month is the renewal of the cuckoo's note, which is generally heard about the middle of April. The simple monotonous call, whence its name is derived, has commanded attention in all countries; and several rustic sayings, and the names of several plants which flower at this time, are derived from it; as the cuckoo-flower, or lady-smock, the cuckoo-pint, or arum and in Attica, the arrival of this bird being at the time when the fruit of the fig-tree (for which the territory of Athens was celebrated) made its appearance, the cuckoo

and a young fig were called by the same name (KOKKUέ)

соссих.

Hail, beauteous stranger of the wood,
Attendant on the spring!

Now heaven repairs thy rural seat,
And woods thy welcome sing.

Soon as the daisy decks the green,
Thy certain voice we hear:
Hast thou a star to guide thy path,
Or mark the rolling year?

Delightful visitant! with thee,

I hail the time of flowers,

When Heaven is filled with music sweet

Of birds among the bowers.

The school-boy, wandering in the wood
To pull the flowers so gay,

Starts, thy curious voice to hear,
And imitates thy lay. ⚫

LOGAN.

It is upon this coincidence between the arrival of birds and the flowering of plants, that natural calendars have been attempted to be constructed. It would indeed be

returning to the earliest ages of ignorance and barbarism were we to make use of such a calendar, however perfect in its kind, in civil transactions, as we are in possession of unvarying modes of calculating the lapse of time by the assistance of astronomy; but the very circumstance that unfits a natural calendar for civil use, renders it of considerable importance to the farmer and gardener, whose business is so materially affected by the irregular vicissitudes of the seasons. For example, the time of sheepshearing, it is evident, cannot be fixed to any particular week, much less to any certain day; for this operation cannot be performed safely till warm weather is thoroughly established; it would be absurd, therefore, to fix the second week in June for this business, since the latter end of May in very favourable years, and the close of June in unfavourable ones might, according to circumstances, be the most proper time: a certain degree of warmth is necessary to the blossoming of the elder-tree, and as the season is early or late, so will be the time of this plant's flowering; and as an equal degree of heat is requisite before sheep ought to be

MOLE-CRICKET, DRAGON-FLY.

123

sheared, according to the season of elder-blossoms will vary the time of sheep-shearing.

The cuckoo's arrival is regularly preceded some days by that of the wry-neck, a small bird, singular in its attitudes and plumage, and living on ants and insects that harbour in the bark of trees, which it extracts by means of its long tongue, furnished with a sharp bony tip. This bird has also a peculiar note or cry, easily distinguished by those

who have once heard it.

The other summer birds of passage that arrive during this month, usually make their appearance in the following order: the ring-ousel, red-start, yellow-wren, swift, whitethroat, grasshopper-lark, and willow-wren. Various kinds of insects are seen about this time, of which the most remarkable is the gryllus gryllotalpa, or mole-cricket. This singular animal is distinguished by its low, dull, jarring note, continued for a long time without intermission, like the chattering of the fern-owl; but still more so by the peculiar structure of its fore-feet, which are exceedingly strong, and greatly resemble those of the mole, whence this insect derives its name. Anatomists also have discovered so great a conformity between its internal structure, and that of the ruminating quadrupeds, as renders it highly probable that this animal, like them, chews the cud.

The mole-cricket inhabits the sides of canals and swampy wet soils, in which, just below the surface, it forms long winding burrows, and a chamber neatly smoothed and rounded, of the size of a moderate snuff-box, in which, about the middle of May, it deposits its eggs, to the number of nearly a hundred. The ridges, which they raise in their subterraneous progress, interrupt the evenness of gravel walks, and the havoc they commit in beds of young cabbages, legumes, and flowers, renders them very unwelcome guests in a garden.

Several species of that elegant tribe of insects the libellula, or dragon-fly, about this time emerge from the water, in which they pass their aurelia state.*

* The poetical reader will recal Tennyson's lovely lines in "The Two Voices."

To-day I saw the dragon-fly

Come from the wells where he did lie.

The formica herculanea, or horse-ant, in the beginning of this month recommences its annual labours; this species is about three times the size of the common black ant, and inhabits the pine forests of Scotland, and the rocky woods of England and Wales, in which it erects a large conical nest, two feet or more in height, composed of leaves and small twigs.

The snake, too, the large bat, and shell-snails, quit their winter retirements at this period; and on mild evenings earth-worms come out of their holes in search of food, or for the purpose of propagation.

An inner impulse rent the veil

Of his old husk: from head to tail
Came out clear plates of sapphire mail.

He dried his wings; like gauze they grew;
Through crofts and pastures wet with dew
A living flash of light he flew.

Miss Mitford, who is ever an accurate and intelligent observer of nature, tells us, that "walking along the meadows one bright sunny afternoon, a year or two back, and rather late in the season, I had an opportunity of noticing a curious circumstance in natural history. Standing close to the edge of the stream, I remarked a singular appearance on a large tuft of flags. It looked like bunches of flowers, the leaves of which seemed dark, yet transparent, intermingled with brilliant tubes of bright blue or shining green. On examining this phenomenon more closely, it turned out to be several clusters of dragon-flies just emerged from their deformed chrysalis state, and still torpid and motionless from the wetness of their filmy wings. Half an hour later we returned to the spot, and they were gone. We had seen them at the very moment when beauty was complete, and animation dormant. I have since found nearly a similar account of this curious process in Mr. Bingley's very entertaining work called Animal Biography."-ED.

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Fish, actu

ated by the
same law that

exerts its in-
fluence upon the
rest of nature, now
leave the deep

&MIZETELLY.

holes and sheltered bottoms, where they passed the winter, and wandering about in search of food, again offer themselves to the angler

Beneath a willow long forsook,

The fisher seeks his custom'd nook;

And bursting through the crackling sedge
That crowns the current's cavern'd edge,
He startles from the bordering wood
The bashful wild-duck's early brood.

WARTON.

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