84 History of Nature. [BooK II. 



To proceed, then, the Spring openeth the Sea for Sailors: 

 in the Beginning whereof, the West Winds mitigate the Win- 

 ter Weather at the Time when the Sun is in the 25th Degree 

 of Aquarius, and that is the sixth Day before the Ides of 

 February. And this Order holdeth for the most Part with 

 all other Winds, which I will set down one after another : so 

 that in every Leap Year we anticipate and reckon one Day 

 sooner, and then again keep the same Rule throughout all 

 the four Years following. Some call Favonius (which begin- 

 neth to blow about the seventh Day before the Calends of 

 March) by the Name of Chelidonius, upon the Sight of the 

 first Swallows 1 : but many name it Orinthias, coming the 

 seventy-first Day after the shortest Day in Winter ; by occa- 

 sion of the coming of Birds : which Wind bloweth for nine 

 Days. Opposite to Favonius is the Wind which we called 

 Sub-solanus. Unto this Wind is attributed the Rising of the 

 Vergilice, or Seven Stars, in as many Degrees of Taurus, six 

 Days before the Ides of May ; which Time is a southerly 

 Constitution : and to this Wind the North is contrary. 

 Moreover, in the hottest Season of the Summer the Dog-star 

 ariseth, when the Sun entereth into the first Degree of Leo, 

 which commonly is the fifteenth Day before the Calends of 

 August. Before the Rising of this Star for eight Days' 

 Space, or thereabout, the North-east Winds blow ; which the 

 Greeks call Prodromi, or Forerunners. And two Days after 

 it is risen, the same Winds hold still more stiffly for the 

 Space of forty Days, which they name Etesia. The Sun's 



1 Ovid (" Fasti ") says, on the day which is equivalent to about the 

 25th of February: 



" Fallimur ? an veris praenuntia venit hirundo ? 

 Et metuit, nequa versa recurrat hyems ? " 



" Am I deceived ? is that the swallow's wing ? 

 That flits along, the herald of the spring. 

 Fearful of cold, she still seeks shelter here ; 

 And dreads that winter may reclaim the year." 



In Sardinia it is noted on the last day of the same month, in the " Calendar 

 of the Transactions of the Royal Academy of Brussels." But these are 

 early appearances ; and in general this bird arrives in Italy in the first 

 ten days of March. Wern. Club. 



