1 8 '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 

 Gari-ula quam tignis nidum suspendat hirundo;" * 



and Shakspeare, in his Winter'' 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, I 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 Z)raba verna 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 I notice 

 (about the second week in March) the i^anunculus Ficaria 

 and the Fiola 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 1 before observed) a west or south-west wind 

 should prevail." f Prior in order of publication, and more 



* " 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. 



