IEE EEL EEE 
[ 101 j 
4 NATURALIST’s MONTHLY REPORT. 
Decemper.-—Dead winter month, 
Now joyless rains obscure 
Drive through the mingling skies with vapour foul; 
Dark on the mountain’s brow and shake the woods. 
URING nearly the whole of the present month the weather has been as variable 
as I almost everrecollect it. On the lst and 2¢ the wind was northerly, accompa- 
nied with asharp frost. The 3d to the 6ihit was westerly ; north-west from the Ith 
| to the Sth ; south-west on the 10th; north-north-east on the 11th; westerly from the 
| 2th to the 15th; north on the 16th and 17th; south-west and north-west on, the 18th; 
: easterly onthe 19th; sguth-west and west on the 20th; westerly from. the 2}st to the 
24th; north.west from the 25th to the 27th; northerly on the 28th and 29th, and 
north-east on the SOth and 31st, 
We had strong gales from the south-west or north-west, on the 6th, 18th, Zlst, 23d, 
"25th, and 27th, and hard gales on the 12th and 14th. The latter was a tremendous ? 
day. 
There has been rain.on sixteen. days of this month, but on the 3@, 6th, 10th, 12th, 
18th, 20th, and 22d, much more than on any of the others, A hard frost com- 
menced in the night of the 28th, and continued till the end of the month. Inthe 
night of the 3ist, there was a considerable fall of snow, the first we have.had this 
ear, 
December 1. The season has hitherto been so mild, that several of the field howers 
are yetin bloom. Among them I observe the Hedge Lychius, (ZLychius dioica), Com- 
© mon fumitory, (fumaria officinalis), and gorse, 
December 6; A great quantity of herrings were caught in the evening of this day; 
and to the westward of ‘this neighbourhood, herrings lave continued to be capght 
during the greater part of the month. 
‘December 7, The weather wasso warm that a large blue fly came in at the win- 
' dow of my sitting-room, and buzzed about the glass in the same manner as the flies 
do in summer. 
No pilchards have hitherto this year emigrated, so far eastward, as to our shores, 
December 13, Ewes bave yeaned some days ago, and lambs are’ now, in several 
places, to be seen in the fields. . 
'* December 16. So warm does the weather still continue, that a snake was ihis day 
seen out of its hole; and in the evening 1 observed black beetles of various species, 
(scarabeeus stercorgrius, &c.) flying about in every direction. 
* December 17. Spiders appear upon their webs, and seew 10 be unaffected by the, 
Jateness of theseason. The black, long-legged insects, which ran abont upon the 
surface of the water, and are usually denominated by the common people water - 
fpiders, (cimex lacustris and stagnorum of Linnieus), continue to be seen, 
December 2f. Bats are stil] to be seen flitting about in the evenings. The follow ' 
ing plants are in flower:—sweet-scented violet, wall-flower, mezeveon, and hepatica, 
~ December 25 and 27. Snipes haye in a great measure left the marshes, and are 
found inthe dry lands. In the evening of each of these days there was much light- 
ning. 
“December 31. No wild fowl, except a very few ducks and geese, have yet visited 
us. The variable weather has no doubt been the cause of this. A tolerably severe 
frost, with the wind from the Eastward, are the usual prognostics of the arrival of 
these birds, 
' Hampshire. , 
fh a 2. ees 
MONTHLY AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
The appearance of the wheat still continues sickly on that side, which, wncovered 
by the snow, remained exposed to the action of the northerly and easterly winds 
during the late frost; and the difference in hue and healthy countenance, between 
this, and that part covered and protected, is very striking. The changes, however, 
of wheat in the grass, so continual.throughout every season, are of very litile conse- 
uence; the present unfavourable aspect will be readily improved by good weather. 
- ean planting, the immediate object of employment, is rather backward in general ; 
but the lands work well, having received considerable benefit from the frost. All 
the various operations of husbandry proper to the season, are going forward without, 
impediment, and almost universally, with degrees of improvement, and support from 
aniple funds, peculiar and highly creditable to the present times, The practice of. 
ari ling, of sowing corn in rows, in order to facilitate the extirpation of weeds, is, 
giws said 
