584 OF METEOROLOGICAL CHAP. 10. 1. 



operations on particular days : this practice, how- 

 ever, till within a very late period, was common 

 in Europe, and even to this day is observed 

 in many parts of Britain. Ray, in his Proverbs, 

 observes, " Sow or Set Beans in Candlemas 

 Waddle," that is, in the wane of the Moon, 

 which is nearest to the Festival of the Puri- 

 fication. These old rustic rules correspond to 

 the numerous observations on the Opera et 

 Dies of Hesiod and other ancient writers. St. 

 Blaze's Day is still celebrated in parts of 

 England with bonfires ; and Dr. Plott, in his 

 History of Oxfordshire, has gone the absurd 

 length of ascribing the name of this Saint to 

 the Blaze of torches, lighted up on the 3d of 

 February.* 



The prejudice that birds begin to couple on 

 the 14th of February, is another instance of 

 the Super stitio Calendar ia. By my journals 

 of Natural History, and those of persons who 

 have kept them for half a century before me, 

 I find, however, that a large proportion of land 

 birds begin to pair about this time of year. 

 And this may have been the origin of those 



* Brand Pope Antiq. cit. Plotl's Oxford, p, 202. edit, of 

 1677- 



