88 LEAVES EROM THE 



position of their markings, of a dull white ground colour, 

 spotted and dashed with dark umber brown ; in some, he 

 says, a second series of greyish spots appear, as if beneath 

 the surface of the shell : medium length eleven lines, and 

 breadth eight. 



The head, neck, and the whole of the body of the bird 

 are of a sooty grey ; the wings, dark-bluish black ; the 

 external edges of the second, third, and fourth primaries, 

 white. The tail is black, with a tinge of blue, and all 

 its feathers, except the two middle ones, have extensive 

 white tips. The irides are dark brown, and the blue bill 

 has a black tip. The feet are lead colour : sexes alike in 

 colour, the female rather the smaller : length, nearly six 

 inches. Mr. Gould remarks, that the young have an 

 irregular stripe of dirty white down the centre of each 

 feather of the upper surface, and are mottled with the 

 same on the under surface. 



April 1. — Yesterday the weathercocks, which had so 

 long been fixtures, veered round, — 



Grata vice veris et Favoni. 



Every bud is now bursting, every seed is swelling now. 

 All Nature is prolific, reminding us of the great egg of 

 Night that floated in chaos, and was broken by the horns 

 of the celestial bull. From this egg* sprang up like a 

 blossom, Eros, the lovely, the desirable, with his glossy, 

 golden pinions, -|- — Eros, the elder Cupid, the personifi- 

 cation of divine love. 



All sublunary eggs, in which the principle of life 



* The npcoTov wov, the first great egg or seed of the ancient 

 philosophy. A serpent was coiled round it, emblematical of the 

 eternal divine wisdom. Its image was worshipped in the temple 

 of the Dioscuri, Helen's brothers, as a representation, probably, of 

 Leda's production. The breaking of the egg by the horns of the 

 bull is typical of the genial effect of spring. 



t Aristophanes, Aves, 1. 694. Bekker. 



