5190 Effects of Winter 1881-82. 



sun shining out frciiiumtly from moniiiig till niglit, tlj(; wind Ijeing 

 generally soutli-west, and the rainfall only amounted to 1 inch. 

 The highest temperature occurred on the 4th = 50° max., 25°'5 min. 

 On the 5th, 52° ; on the 12th, 50° ; 24th, 5r; 27th 50°. The lowest 

 temperatures were observed on the 26th = 37°'2, min. 25°*4. On the 

 18th the barometer stood for several days at 30'8, higher than it 

 had been seen for forty years. On the 17th I heard the spring 

 notes of the thrush ; and on the 19th the song of both blackbirds and 

 thrushes, and also the cooing of the wood-pigeons. I observed 

 towards the third week of the month twenty-eight plants in flower 

 in the rock garden, including winter Aconites, Snowdrops, Ile- 

 2>atica angulosa and other species, Dondia epipadis, Primroses, 

 Saxifraga oppositifoUa, S. oppositifolia var. pyrenaka, various 

 Hellebores, sweet-scented Tussilago, &c. In the fields the 

 common Groundsel, Coltsfoot [TussUago), Veronica Buxhaumii, 

 white and purple Nettle, Leontodon, and common Furze Avere all in 

 bright flower during the course of the month. About the Retreat, 

 near Abbey St Bathans, on the Whitadder, the common yellow 

 Primrose was gathered at Christmas, and in the deans about Cock- 

 burnspath all through January the Primroses were quite plentiful. 

 Partridges paired from the 15th of January. In thirty-five years' 

 residence in Berwickshire I have never seen the common Primrose 

 in flower in January before, and only on one occasion in bud during 

 the same period. 



February was ushered in with colder weather ; on the 4th the tem- 

 perature being 48° max., 28°'6 min. ; 6th, 49° max., 26° min. ; 7th, 

 42°*26 max., 26°"8 min. ; and there was a slight fall of snow 

 on the 28th. By the 9th mild weather again set in, and continued 

 till the 21st, when the thermometer registered 56° max., 40° "3 

 min. Eainfall, 1*95 inches. Wind veered from S.E. to S.W. 

 and due west. The garden flowers in bloom were those already 

 mentioned, with the addition of Sisijrinclmmi grandijlorum and 

 S. grandijlorum cdbum, Anemone hlanda, Primida Cashmeriana, 

 p. denticulata, P. dentictdata alba, P. denticidata var. piirpiirea, P. 

 pidcherrima, P. rosea. The Crocuses were at their best on the 21st ; 

 and on the same day Vanessa urticK, the nettle butterfly, was 

 disporting itself in the sun. The catkins on the Willows were fully 

 expanded in sheltered nooks, and Viola odorata was in flower by 

 the end of the month on the river bank. Gooseberry bushes and 

 Thorns were budding out, the appearance of the country being 

 quite green, a very marked contrast to the previous season, Avhen 

 on the 5th of March the high road was blocked with snowdrifts, 

 several of them 1 2 feet deep. 



April was a very cold month, especially the early part of it. 



