4 6 
NATURE NOTES. 
the flowers for use on April 19th. Whether the late Lord Beaconsfield had any 
special fondness for Primroses is very doubtful ; their association with his death- 
day is doubtless due to the fact that the Queen inscribed on a wreath of them, 
sent to his funeral, the words, “ His favourite flower ” — the pronoun referring, 
not to Lord Beaconsfield, but to Prince Albert. Be that as it may, however, the 
wearing of the Primrose on April 19th — on which day not only Lord Beacons- 
field, but the great naturalist, Mr. Darwin, was taken from us — has become a 
national observance, and we Selbornians must do all in our power to prevent the 
immolation of this latest victim at the altar of fashion. G. S. R. 
A Browning Query (p. 28'. — Mr. F. A. Hort writes : “ Surely it is the 
little Wood sorrel (Oxalis Acetosel/c) that is referred to, and not the arum or an 
orchid.” Miss E. M. Spooner encloses a leaf of a cyclamen ( C . hederafolium), 
and suggests that this may be the plant intended : this, however, could hardly be 
the case if an English flower was meant, as the cyclamen is of the rarest occur- 
ence among us in a wild state. We are not ourselves satisfied that Mr. Hort’s 
solution is the correct one. 
The “ King Horny.” — May I ask for some information concerning the 
fly (used by anglers, I am told), with large feet and something like a bee in shape, 
which is called by country people a “King Horny?” I found one in the 
summer, walking up a window-pane, and was struck by its singular appearance. 
E. V. B. 
Peculiar Blackbirds. — I should like to know if it is common for black- 
birds to suffer from delicacy of the chest. There is always at least one blackbird 
with a cough, who frequents our garden. He coughs when he comes to breakfast 
under the windows at eight o’clock. The bird looks rather puffy, but seems quite 
well, and the cough does not affect his appetite. A relative of this blackbird, with 
the same sort of cough, has been heard about the garden for some years. It may 
possibly be the same bird, but I think not, as the cough is somewhat different in 
sound, and I have some recollection of hearing them both cough at the same time. 
In November there were immense flocks of blackbirds in our orchards and fields, 
and we suppose it was then they took the opportunity of stripping the mistletoe of 
its berries ; for when Christmas arrived, not a mistletoe could be found that was 
not quite bare of berries. A pied blackbird has for the last four years made its 
abode in a woody corner of our grounds. There is, of course, no absolute certainty 
that this is the same individual bird that we have watched during that space of time ; 
the inference follows from the fact of only one having ever been seen at one time. 
When first observed, there was only a little white about the wings. The white, 
however, seems to have increased year by year, until at the present time the whole 
of the back and breast appear snow white, the head jet black, with rather sym- 
metrical white feathers in wings and tail. The bird seems to be almost conscious 
of its own peculiarity, for it is scarce ever seen but in the early morning, or at dusk. 
Even then it flies low. and when disturbed seeks at once the cover of some hedge, 
or of its own safe corner. Our anxiety is, lest the existence of this beautiful bird 
should become known to some of the reckless, ruthless bird destroyers who prowl 
•round the hedges and field paths. E. V. B. 
Chevisaunce. — Miss C. E. Leycester writes : “I have been for some 
months seeking light, and finding none, upon the flower ‘ Chevisaunce,’ men- 
tioned by Spenser in his Shepherd’s Calendar (April). Was any flower so called ? 
or was it his invention ? ” 
[The New English Dictionary adds a second reference to the name, which 
is found in T. Robinson’s Mary Magdalene , c. 1620 ; but the context sug- 
gests that Robinson’s lines were adapted from those of Spenser. Dr. Prior says 
the name is “evidently a misprint for cherisaunce, comfort, heart’s-ease, the 
Cheiri or Wallflower, the plant to which the name of Heartsease was originally 
.given. The word occurs in Chaucer’s Romaunt of the Rose , 1 . 3337. 
“ ‘ For I ne knew ne cherisaunce.'' ” 
Dr. Prior’s derivation may be the correct one, but we do not know on what 
authority he states that the Wallflower was the original Heartsease. It is true 
that Turner so applies the name ; but Lyte and Tusser assign it to the plant nowa- 
days known as Heartsease.] 
