INTRODUCTION 



BY 



F. G. AFLALO, F.Z.S., F.R.G.S. 



Mr. Westell has asked me to write a brief introduction to his 

 Diary, and this I have great pleasure in doing, because it seems to me 

 that his book is likely to give enjoyment to a number of readers, as 

 well as to be of some use as a reference work to those who are 

 interested in the monthly comings and goings of Plants and Animals 

 in Hertfordshire, Mr. Westell's County. 



Ever since the publication of the famous White-Markwick Diaries, 



and in all probability before it, there has been a vogue for these 



regular records of the trivial signs and evidences of the march of 

 Nature's year. 



The Naturalist has his season like the Sportsman. He may 

 polish up his binoculars instead of his gun, and the Twelfth of August 

 may not to him be any more important than the Eleventh ; yet he, too, 

 has his opening and closing days, not arbitrarily fixed by Law, but 

 more reasonably by the varying conditions of seasonal weather and 

 temperature each year. He has his opening days, when first the 

 Nightingale trills in the hedgerow; when the monotony of the Cuckoo's 

 note is yet pleasing in the little coppice behind his house; when 

 the dashing Swifts and the more gentle Swallows first come beneath 

 the gables; when the Lapwing once more gambols in the lush 

 meadows, and the Wild fowl gather silently in the wintry marshes. 



Nor are the Migrants his only care, their journey ings the only 

 landmarks in his journals, for he also watches the changing plumage, 



