WEATHER AND Nature NOTES. 145 
Lesser Periwinkle came into bloom on the 16th; Wood 
Anemone on the 23rd; Daffodil on the 31st. First heard the 
crows busy about their nests at Newton on the 4th. First 
heard the nesting note of the Peewit on the 16th. Corn 
sowing began on the 22nd. 
APRIL. 
Came in with an ideal.spring morning—a west wind and 
the birds singing all around. But this was a very dis- 
appointing sample of what was to follow. On the morning 
of the 2nd there was a heavy white frost, and the thermometer 
on the grass showed 1o degrees. A cold, barren wind, mostly 
from the west and north-west, prevailed till the 15th, which 
then changed to an easterly direction, where it continued 
during the remainder of the month. From the 16th there 
was no frost, and although the wind was easterly the absence 
of frost and the rain which fell on the 16th and 17th made 
conditions more favourable for vegetable growth, and during 
_ the last week we were surrounded with beauty in the rich 
verdure of the fields, the bursting bud, and opening flowers. 
First Primrose in bloom on an open bank (where I 
‘always note it) on the rith, 15 days later than 1915; Sweet 
Violet on the 11th; Flowering Currant on the 13th; Jargon- 
elle Pear on the 14th; Sloe on the 21st; Dog Violet on the 
22nd. ; 
First Sandpiper seen on the river on the 4th; first Wasp 
flying in the open on the sth; first Swallows on the 24th; 
Willow Wren on the 27th; Small White Butterfly on the 
28th ; first heard the Cuckoo on the 27th. 
May. 
The “‘ merry’? month came in with a north-east wind, 
and several degrees colder than the last six days of April; a 
nice bright morning, plenty of May dew. Heard the birds 
begin their cheery music about 3.30 in the morning. 
Although the temperature of the month was fully two degrees 
below normal, and the distant Moffat hills were covered with 
snow on the 7th, yet vegetable growth made rapid progress, 
and by the 2oth the fields and trees were very beautiful, and 
