430 
CORRESPONDENCE, 
In my next paper I will illustrate these statements with some interesting facts, 
in proof of their correctness. 
Doncaster, April 5, 1839. 
r To be continued.) 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
Dates of the Appearance of Spring Flowers, and Notes on Natural 
History in general. 
To the Editor of The Naturalist. 
Dear Sir, —I am tempted by the opportunity of going to town, to leave the 
following dates of the first appearing of Spring flowers, and the earliest notes of 
the Thrush and other birds in this neighbourhood, at your London publishers. 
They have been marked down by myself as they occurred; my plan being during 
my daily rambles in the fields to seek for something worthy of observation, and 
to note it on my return home. It employs the mind whilst walking, and leads 
one to see “ in the vast and the minute”— 
“ The unambiguous footsteps of the God 
Who gives its lustre to an insect’s wing, 
And wheels his throne upon the rolling worlds.” 
Should any one of them be worthy of notice in The Naturalist, pray accept them; 
if not, you are at liberty to burn them. m 
Common Daisy ( Beilis perennis), first seen, Jan. 12.—Dandelion ( Leontodon 
taraxacum), Jan. 12.-—Rooks ( Corvus frugilegus), on their old nesting-trees for 
the first time, in numbers, Jan. 13.—Herons ( Ardea major), first flight visited 
the Herony at Diddlington, Jan. 18.—Water Beetles, Plungers (Dytiscus mar- 
ginalis), pairing at the bottoms of ditches, &c., Jan. 23.—Caddis, Case-worms 
(Phryganea arenaria), slowly moving in water-runs, Jan. 23.—Blackbird 
(Turdus meruld), whistling, Feb. 3.—Missel Thrush (Turdus viscivorus), 
Feb. 6.—Snow-drops (Galcenthus nivalis), first seen, Feb. 3.—Thrush ( Turdus 
musicus), first song, Feb. 7.—Bats (Verpertiliopipistrellus), seen flying, Feb. 7. 
•— Gyrini, or u Merry-go-rounds ,f (Gyrinus natator), circling in the waters, 
Feb. 9.-—Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris ), in pairs, calling, Feb. 10.—Hedge-sparrow* 
We presume the Hedge Dunnock, Accentor modularis, is here alluded to. It is frequently 
