1 94} Indicatoiial Caletidar, 



tity of rain which has fallen during all this period has been but little more 

 than the waste by evaporation ; and though some of the operations in the 

 fields have been retarded by the frequent showers, it was not till the 4th 

 inst. that garden ground received a sufficient share of moisture to reach the 

 roots. For these two or three days last past, the wind has remained pretty 

 steady in the N.W. ; should it not veer to the southward again, a dry season 

 may follow, and give opportunity to make and secure the generally abun- 

 dant crops of hay. — J. M. Chelsea^ \5th Juncy 1828. 



Art. VIII. Indicatorial Calendar, 



Numberless are the objects which attract our attention at this season, 

 in the animal and vegetable world. The garden, the fields, the woods, and 

 waters, all teem with organised life. Many of the fruits of the earth have 

 arrived at, and many more are in progress, to perfection. 



Animals of the Chase have now a respite from their foes ; the crops on the 

 fields prevent pursuit. On the grassy margins of fields, however, hares are 

 often seen, at dawn or twilight, limping and frisking about with all their 

 characteristic playfulness. At the same hours, rabbits issue from their bur- 

 rows. Foxes, polecats, stoats, weasels, prowl about during the night ; and 

 two or three species of the winged individuals of this class, viz., the bats, are 

 seen on evenings, wheeling about and seizing their prey, the nocturnal 

 moths. 



Of Birds, the young of all sorts are seen. The love-song of the greater 

 number is nearly over, except such as breed late. Rooks are congregated, 

 and, joined by the jackdaw, find their food on open fields or downs ; retiring 

 to their roosting-places in high woods, on the approach of night. If the 

 weather proves dry, so that their natural food (grubs) descend into the 

 ground beyond their reach, they will sometimes betake themselves to fields 

 of corn, where they will do much damage, if not scared away in time. If 

 a late brood or two are hatched after the rest, these do not, for some time, 

 associate with the general company, but are led about by the old ones to 

 -cherry-orchards, and are often greater plagues to the orchardist than the 

 whole rookery together. Coveys of partridges are often met with ; and if 

 before the young can fly, they instantly squat motionless; and it is amusing 

 to see the old ones' pretended helplessness in awkwardly fluttering away, to 

 beguile the intruder from the place ; and with what address she steals in a 

 circuit round, to call her young from the too-public spot. The sparrow- 

 hawk is often seen rapidly skirting the hedge, or skimming the fields in 

 quest of young birds; soon as observed, the swallow gives his shrill signal- 

 note of danger, in which he is joined by the blue titmouse and some other 

 birds. The swallow, house-martin, and wagtail, pui'sue the hawk with 

 threatening cries, secure in their suj)erior power of flight ; all others escaping, 

 with cries of alarm, to thickets for safety. Small birds are not alarmed in 

 the same way by the larger kind of hawks. The crow and magpie sound an 

 alarm on sight of the falcon, buzzard, kite, and raven ; the three last fly 

 before the audacious crow, but he rarely approaches near the first. The 

 cuckoo, and chief of the migratory birds, are now nearly mute, and begin to 

 steal away imperceptibly. The swift or black martin, almost always on 

 wing round their place of resort, generally leave about the 8th of August ; 

 sooner if the season is cold and wet, but seldom later if the weather be 

 never so warm. The sky and wood-larks, with, here and there, a blackbird 

 and song-thrush, are our principal songsters. The notes of other birds are 

 only calls of fear or invitation to each other. 



