The Naturalist's Diary

For MARCH 1819.

The showers were short, the weather mild,
The morning fresh, the evening smiled;
The fields and gardens were beset
With primrose, crocus, violet:

Thus all looked gay and full of cheer
To welcome the new-liveried year'.

SUCH is Sir Henry Wotton's description of Spring, which will generally apply to the month of March, in forward seasons. And I do easily believe,' says old Izaac Walton, that peace and patience, and a calm content, did ever dwell in the cheerful heart of Sir Henry Wotton; because I know, that when he was beyond 70 years of age, he made this description of a part of the present pleasure that possessed him, as he sat quietly in a summer's evening on a bank fishing.' The superabundant moisture of the earth is now dried up, and the process of vegetation is gradually brought on: those trees which, in the last month, were budding, now begin to put forth their leaves; and the various appearances of nature announce the approach of SPRING. The latest springs, however, are always the most favourable, because, as the young buds do not appear so soon, they are not liable to be cut off by chilling blasts.

The melody of birds now gradually swells upon the ear. The throstle (turdus musicus), second only to the nightingale in song, charms us with the sweetness and variety of its lays. The linnet and the goldfinch join the general concert in this month, and the golden-crowned wren (motacilla regulus) begins its song. Rooks build and repair their nests. Rooks, crows, and pigeons, it has been

1 See the remainder of the poem in Walton's Angler, p. 122. There is a beautiful Elegy on the Approach of Spring,' in T. T. for 1817, p. 85.

proved, are by no means so detrimental to the farmer as is generally imagined, though many of them still commit great havoc among these birds, and use every means in their power to frighten them away. (See T. T. for 1816, pp. 86, 87.)

Among the numerous singing birds which delight us with their notes in the spring, the lark must not be forgotten. The melody of this little creature continues during the whole of summer. It is chiefly, however, in the morning and evening that its strains are heard; and as it chaunts its mellow notes on the wing, it is the peculiar favourite of every person who has taste to relish the beauties of nature at the most tranquil seasons of the day, particularly at dawn.-See some interesting particulars of this bird in T.T. for 1817, p. 76.

'I burt no creature; this the whole

Of birds will vouch for me:

Nor have I thy possessions stole ;
Let innocence go free.

'One grain, indeed, this hapless morn
I took, 'twas all I did;

To die for one poor grain of corn,

Justice will sure forbid !'

Meantime his mate, in search of food,
Their craving brood to rear,

Came picking by the fatal net

Which held her husband dear.

With mournful and incessant suit

Did she for mercy call;

'Oh, save my husband!' was her prayer,

'Or take my life withal!

'Of him bereft, who shall me aid
To rear our tender young!'

'Twas all she could, here utterance failed,
Her heart with anguish wrung.

A red-breast, from a neighbouring tree,
Surveyed their hopeless state-

Cease, cease your piteous plaints,' said he,
'Nor think to shun your fate.

'Poor lark! be sure thy doom's decreed,
No eloquence will do;

For know, the wretch, to whom you plead,
Is judge and jury too!"

Yet grief had moved the farmer's breast,
Which, glorying to forgive,
Determined death should not divide

Those truth had formed to live.

With ready hand he loosed the string,
The captive soared on high;
Quickly his mate, with eager wing,
Rejoined him in the sky.

The red-breast, seeing mercy shown,
Enraptured took his flight;

Nor did the farmer's feeling heart
Experience less delight.

In this month, trout begin to rise; blood-worms appear in the water; black ants (formica nigra) are observed; the blackbird and the turkey (meleagris gallopavo) lay; and house pigeons sit. The greenfinch (loxia chloris) sings; the bat (vespertilio) is seen flitting about, and the viper uncoils itself from its winter sleep. The wheatear (sylvia cenanthe), or English ortolan, again pays its annual visit, leaving England in September. They are found in great numbers about East Bourne, in Sussex, more than eighteen hundred dozen being annually taken in this neighbourhood. They are usually sold at sixpence a dozen.-See T.T. for 1816, p.88.

Those birds which have passed the winter in England now take their departure for more northerly regions. The fieldfares (turdus pilaris) travel

to Russia, Sweden, and Norway, and even as far as Siberia. They do not arrive in France till December, when they assemble in large flocks of two or three thousand. The red-wing (turdus iliacus), which frequents the same places, eats the same food, and is very similar in manners to the fieldfare, also takes leave of this country for the season. Soon after, the woodcock (scolopax rusticola) wings its aërial voyage to the countries bordering on the Baltic. Some other birds, as the crane and stork, formerly natives of this island, have quitted it entirely, since our cultivation and population have so rapidly increased.

Frogs, enlivened by the warmth of spring, rise from the bottom of ponds and ditches, where they have lain torpid during the winter.-See our last volume, p. 69.

The facetious Peter Pindar has written a quaint, but amusing, little ode on the frog; and as it inculcates a useful moral lesson, we shall introduce it to the notice of our readers:

A thousand frogs, upon a summer's day,
Were sporting 'midst the sunny ray,

In a large pool reflecting ev'ry face;
They showed their gold-laced clothes with pride,
In harmless sallies frequent vied,

And gambolled through the water with a grace.

It happened that a band of boys,
Observant of their harmless joys,

Thoughtless, resolved to spoil their happy sport;
One frenzy seized both great and small,
On the poor frogs the rogues began to fall,
Meaning to splash them, not to do them hurt.

As Milton quaintly sings, the stones 'gan pour,'
Indeed an Otaheite show'r!

The consequence was dreadful, * *

One's eye was beat out of his head-
This limped away, that lay for dead—

*

*

*

Among the smitten, it was found

Their beauteous queen received a wound;

The blow gave ev'ry heart a sigh,
And drew a tear from ev'ry eye:

At length king croak got up, and thus begun-
My lads, you think this very pretty fun!

'Your pebbles round us fly as thick as hops,

*

*

To you, I guess that these are pleasant stones;
And so they might be to us frogs,

*

*

*

But they're so hard, they break our bones.'

The smelt (salmo eperlanus) begins to ascend rivers to spawn, when they are taken in great abundance.

On the 20th, the vernal equinox takes place. All Nature feels her renovating sway, and seems to rejoice at the retreat of winter. The sallow (salix) now enlivens the hedges; the aspen (populus tremula), and the alder (alnus betula), have their flowers full blown; the laurustinus (viburnum tinus) and the bay (laurus nobilis) begin to open their leaves. The equinoctial gales are usually most felt, both by sea and land, about this time.

Our gardens begin now to assume somewhat of a cheerful appearance. Crocuses, exhibiting a rich mixture of yellow and purple, ornament the borders; mezereon is in all its beauty; the little flowers with silver crest and golden eye,' daisies, are scattered over dry pastures; and the pilewort (ranunculus ficaria) is seen on the moist banks of ditches. The primrose too (primula veris) peeps from beneath the hedge.

The leaves of honeysuckles are now nearly expanded in our gardens, the buds of the cherry tree (prunus cerasus), the peach (amygdalus persica), the nectarine, the apricot, and the almond (prunus armeniaca), are fully opened in this month. The buds of the hawthorn (cratœgus oxycantha) and of the larch tree (pinus larix) begin to open; and the tansy (tanacetum vulgare) emerges out of the ground; ivy-berries are ripe;