312 OBSERVATIONS. 



From a passage in the ' Birds' of Aristophanes, we 

 learn that among the Greeks, tiie crane pointed out the 

 time of sowing ; the arrival of the kite, the time 

 of sheep-shearing ; and the swallow, the time to put 

 on summer-clothes. According to the Greek Calendar 

 of Flora, kept by Theophrastus at Athens, the Orni- 

 thian winds blow, and the swallow comes between the 

 28th of February, and the 12th of March ; the kite 

 and nightingale appear between the llth and 26th of 

 March ; the cuckoo appears at the same time the 

 young figs come out, thence his name. See Stilling- 

 fleet's Tracts on Natural History, p. 324. 



P. 210. Since this letter of Mr. White's, much has 

 been added to our knowledge of the cuckoo, by 

 the patient attention of Dr. Jeuner. Concerning the 

 singing of the cuckoo, mentioned by Mr. White at 

 p. 242, I will add the following curious memoranda 

 from the 7th Volume of the Transactions of the Lin- 

 nsean Society. " The cuckoo begins early in the 

 season with the interval of a minor third, the bird then 

 proceeds to a major third, next to a fourth, then &ffth, 

 after which his voice breaks without attaining a minor 

 sixth." This curious circumstance was however ob- 

 served very long ago ; and it forms the subject of 

 an Epigram in that scarce black-letter volume, the 

 6 Epigrams of John Hey wood, 1587.' 



OF USE. 95. 



" Use maketh maistry, this hath been said alway, 

 " But all is not alway, as all men do eay, 



