300 CUCKOO. Class II. 



the first appearance of the summer birds of pas- 

 sage, and the leafing and fruitmg of certain 

 plants, this ingenious writer would establish a 

 natural calendar in our rural oeconomy ; to in- 

 struct us in the time of sowing our most useful 

 seeds, or of doing such work as depends on a 

 certain temperament of the air. As the fallibi- 

 lity of human calendars need not be insisted 

 upon, we must recommend to our countrymen 

 . some attention to these feathered guides, who 



come heaven-taught, and point out the true 

 commencement of the season ;* their food being 

 the insects of those seasons they continue with us. 

 It is very probable, that these birds, or at lest 

 a part of them, do not entirely quit this island 

 during winter, but that they seek shelter in hollow 

 trees, and lie torpid, unless animated by unusual- 

 ly warm weather. I have two evidences of their 

 being heard to sing as early as February ; one 

 was in the latter end of that month in 1771, 

 the other on the fourth in 1 769 ' the weather in 

 the last was uncommonly warm, but after that 

 they were heard no more, chilled again as I sup- 

 pose into torpidity. There is an instance of 



works, preceded by an interesting literary life of the amiable 

 writer^ has recently been published by the reverend Archdeacon 

 Coxe. Ed. 



* In Sweden, which is a much colder climate than our own, 

 tlie cuckoo does not appear so early by a month. 



