18 Natural Calendar of Coincidence. 
People talked of ‘ the cuckoo having picked up the dirt,” 
alluding to the clean state of the country at the time of the 
arrival of the cuckoo; and of * blackthorn winds,” meaning 
the bleak north-east winds, so commonly prevalent in the 
spring, about the time of the blowing of the blackthorn. Vir- 
gil, in the recipe he gives in the fourth Georgic for the produc- 
tion of a stock of bees, states that the process is commenced 
“ Ante novis rubeant quam prata coloribus, ante 
Garrula quam tignis nidum suspendat hirundo ;” * 
and Shakspeare, in his /Vinter’s Tale, speaks of 
—— “ Daffodils, 
That come before the swallow dares, and take 
The winds of March with beauty.” 
I seldom read a Number of your Magazine without meeting 
with some hint or other, which serves to suggest something 
else to my mind: and this, [may remark by the way, is no in- 
considerable advantage of a miscellany like yours; the notices 
and observations of one naturalist serving to draw forth those 
of another, which, but for this circumstance (if they had not 
soon been forgotten even by the observer himself), at least 
might never have been recorded, and thus many an interesting 
thought might have been suffered to ** pass in smother.” 
I have been led into these general remarks, however foreign 
they may be deemed from the subject I have in view, by some 
observations of your correspondents. In an interesting paper on 
British Snipes (Vol. II. p. 143.), H. V. D. says, “I am con- 
vinced, from the observation of several years, that their (the 
snipes’) return is much regulated by the state of the atmo- 
spheric temperature, inasmuch as that return is consistent 
with the flowering of certain wild plants, which is retarded or 
forwarded precisely as the spring happens to be cold or warm, 
For instance, in the latter parts of the month of February the 
little Draba vérna is seen opening its flowers on old walls and 
banks with a southern exposure; at that time I have invari- 
ably observed that a few snipes (the advanced guard of the 
main body) are to be found in our marshes. When [ notice 
(about the second week in March) the Randnculus Ficaria 
and the Viola odorata in blossom, I am then confident of 
finding diversion in the pursuit of snipe-shooting. By attend- 
ing to these coincidences, a Norfolk sportsman will rarely be 
disappointed in his expectation of amusement at this time of 
the year, if (as I before observed) a west or south-west wind 
should prevail.” + Prior in order of publication, and more 
* fore - 
“ Before the meadows blush with recent flowers, 
: And prattling swallows hang their nests on high.” Trapp’s Trans. 
t See also some interesting remarks from Mr, Templeton, Vol. II. p. 307. 
