42 The Field Naturalises Quarterly Feb. 



ing of even common flowers or the first green leaf; to 

 listen for the first notes of the well-known migrants ; to 

 watch for the first butterfly on the wing. Rare records 

 interest me but little ; I prefer to pay attention to the 

 various common, yet beautiful, natural history objects 

 which present themselves as each month rolls by, and 

 note the dates when the first flower opened, the first 

 birds tuned their lutes, the butterflies first toyed in the 

 air, and other notes of a like nature. One never tires of 

 noting these records year by year ; interest is awakened 

 and stimulated by so doing, and, like Richard Jefferies, I 

 too am content to listen to " the coloured yellow-hammer 

 sing, sing, singing, so long as there is light to cast a 

 shadow on the dial." 



January. — The first month of the year is usually a some- 

 what dull one to the field naturalist, excepting for the 

 occurrence of any rare visitors. During the period under 

 review I noticed with pleasure several small flocks of 

 golden plover, and the shrill but monotonous notes of the 

 meadow -pipit (which I cannot ascertain is hereabouts in 

 the summer) were quite a feature of the bird-life astir. 

 The flocks of starlings, too, are very conspicuous at this 

 season, and the lapwings were never more welcome. On 

 the 20th of the month the skylark, which had been silent 

 since December i6th, resumed its song. In igoo it re- 

 sumed on the 24th. The missel thrush, too, sang during 

 the month ; and the visits of the blue, coal, and great tit- 

 mice to the garden are always in evidence in January. On 

 27th, in spite of a hard frost, I noticed slugs harbouring 

 under stones in the garden ; and on the same date the 

 honeysuckle was fast unrolling, spurring one on for the 

 fresh green flush of spring. 



February. — On the ist the ring-doves suddenly became 

 noisy, as also did several of the titmice. The robin, hedge- 

 sparrow, and wren were singing gaily, and the lark, sus- 

 pended in mid-heaven, was in rapturous song. Visiting 

 Woburn Sands (Beds) to-day, I noticed the heather in 

 flower, observed the beautiful green sheen on the bilberry 

 and broom ; and the hard frost seemed to have put new 

 life into the now busy rooks and carrion-crows. 



