Nature's Lady-Day. 315 
west, on the contrary, the hawthorn did not show a 
leaf for some time after the blackthorn had bloomed 
in Surrey. The farmers say that the grass which 
comes on rapidly in the latter days of February and 
early days of March, ‘ many weathers’ (in their phrase), 
often ‘goes back’ later in the season, and loses its 
former progress. 
Lady-day (old style) forms with Michaelmas the 
two eras, as it were, of the year. The first marks 
the departure of the winter birds and the com- 
ing of the spring visitors; the second, in reverse 
order, marks the departure of the summer birds 
and the appearance of the vanguard of the winter 
ones. In the ten days or fortnight succeeding Lady- 
day (old style)—-say from the 6th of April to the 20th 
—great changes take place in the fauna and flora; or, 
rather, those changes which have long been slowly 
maturing become visible. The nightingales arrive and 
sing, and with them the white butterfly appears. The 
swallow comes, and the wind-anemone blooms in the 
copse. Finally the cuckoo cries, and at the same 
time the pale lilac cuckoo-flower shows in the moist 
places of the mead. 
The exact dates, of course, vary with the cha- 
tacter of the season and the locality ; but, speaking 
generally, you should begin to keep a keen look-out 
for these signs of spring about old Lady-day. In 
the spring of last year, in a warm district, the 
nightingale sang on the 12th of April, a swallow ap- 
