60 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 
violent wind that had a much higher temperature than the average 
blizzard, z e, about 22 degrees, whereas high winds at as low a tem- 
perature as zero are not infrequent during our average type of 
wintets. | 
Our place was visited on the night or evening of the last 12th of 
February’s snowstorm, by a very large flock of snow-buntings. These, 
in fact, were a very interesting feature of the storm, and seemed to 
swirl and career around our hay and straw stack as if their best time 
of revelry was when the buffeting wind and circling snow eddies 
were at their maddest fury. Although one cannot help thinking that 
the flocks of snow-buntings lend a most charming feature to the 
snowy landscape on one of our calm mid-winter days, the romantic 
sentiment is intensified when we listen to their concerted, icy chir- 
rupings in regular time-keeping with the gusts and pulsations of the 
arctic storm, ‘They evidently share and partake of the atmospheric 
excitement, and, like stormy petrels, give forth demonstrations of 
revelry at such junctures ; these scenes, on the date just mentioned, 
were observed by others than the writer of these lines, and make an 
impression that is not easily obliterated. 
On the night of February 23rd, there occurred a very brilliant 
and extensive display of the aurora borealis, which was noticed and 
talked about by many people ; in fact this was the most remarkable 
display noticed here during many years ; the night was clear, but 
extremely cold (about two below zero here), and it had been 
observed that mild weather had set in immediately thereatter ; on 
the nights of the 21st and 22nd of February there had also been 
weaker displays of the aurora borealis. 
On the 26th February weather became mild, and early migrant 
birds were expected, but the mildness continuing, the first bluebirds 
were observed here on Sunday, 4th of March, and the first robins 
were noticed in our garden on the morning of the 6th, and on that 
date a number of people hereabouts ‘‘ tapped ” their maple trees 
with favorable results. The mildness continuing, the first frogs were 
heard piping by my son and others employed in the woods on the 
toth of March, which is about two weeks earlier than last year ; 
meadow larks sang in the sunshine on the 4th of March. Pheasants 
were heard drumming for the first of the season on the 8th March, 
have continued since (indicating mating time), the first crackles were 
