312 



OBSERVATIONS. 



From a passage in the ' Birds' of Aristophanes, we learn 

 that among the Greeks, the crane pointed out the time 

 of sowing ; the arrival of the kite, the time of sheep- 

 shearing; and the swallow, the time to put on summer^ 

 clothes. According to the Greek Calendar of Flora, 

 kept by Theophrastus at Athens, the Ornithian winds 

 blow, and the swallow comes between the 28th of 

 February, and the 12th of March ; the kite and nightin- 

 gale appear between the 11th and 26th of March ; the 

 cuckoo appears at the same time the young figs come out, 

 thence his name. See Stillingfleet's Tracts on Natural 

 History, p. 324. 



P. 210. Since this letter of Mr. White's, much has 

 been added to our knowledge of the cuckoo, by the 

 patient attention of Dr. Jenner. Concerning the singing 

 of the cuckoo, mentioned by Mr. White at p. 242, I will 

 add the following curious memoranda from the 7th 

 Volume of the Transactions of the Linnsean Society. 

 " The cuckoo begins early in the season with the in- 

 terval of a minor third, the bird then proceeds to a major 

 third, next to a fourth, then a Jifth, after which his 

 voice breaks without attaining a 7ninor sixth.'" This 

 curious circumstance was however observed very long 

 ago ; and it forms the subject of an Epigram in that 

 scarce black-letter volum.e^ the ' Epigrams of John Hey- 

 wood, 1587.' 



OF USE. 95. 



" Use maketh mohstrj, this hath been said alway, 

 " But all is not alway, as all men do say, 



