frost, with snow. To April 18, heavy rain, with frost and snow and slect. To the end of April, dark, cold weather, with frequent rains. To June 9, warm spring weather, with brisk winds and frequent showers. From June 4 to the end of July, warm, with much rain. To August 29, hot, dry, sultry weather. To September 11, mild, with frequent showers. To the end of September, fine autumnal weather, with occasional showers. To November 17, heavy rain, with violent gales of wind. To December 18, mild, dry weather, with a few showers. To the end of the year, rain and wind.

1790. To January 16, mild, foggy weather, with occasional rains. To January 21, frost. To January 28, dark, with driving rains. To February 14, mild, dry weather. To February 22, hard frost. To April 5, bright cold weather, with a few showers. To April 15, dark and harsh, with a deep snow. To April 21, cold cloudy weather, with ice. To June 6, mild spring weather, with much rain. From July 3, to July 14, cool, with heavy rain. To the end of July, warm, dry weather. To August 6, cold, with wind and rain. To August 24, fine harvest weather. To September 5, strong gales, with driving showers. To November 26, mild autumnal weather, with frequent showers. To December 1, hard frost and snow. To the end of the year, rain and snow, and a few days of frost.

1791. To the end of January, mild, with heavy rains. To the end of February, windy, with much rain and snow. From March to the end of June, mostly dry, especially June. March and April rather cold and frosty. May and June, hot. July, rainy. Fine harvest weather, and pretty dry, to the end of September. Wet October, and cold towards the end. Very wet and stormy in November. Much frost in December.

1792. Some hard frost in January, but mostly wet and mild. February, some hard frost and a little snow. March, wet and cold. April, great storms on the 13th, then some very warm weather. May and June, cold and dry. July, wet and cool; indifferent harvest, rather late and wet. September, windy and wet. October, showery and mild. November, dry and fine. December, mild.

A

COMPARATIVE VIEW

OF THE

NATURALIST'S CALENDAR,

AS KEPT AT

SELBORNE, IN HAMPSHIRE,

BY THE LATE

REV. GILBERT WHITE, M.A.;

AND AT

CATSFIELD, NEAR TATTLE,

IN SUSSEX,

BY WILLIAM MARKWICK, ESQ., F.L.S.,

From the year 1768 to the year 1793.

N.B. The dates in the following Calendars, when more than

one, express the earliest and latest times in which the circumstance noted was observed.

INTRODUCTION TO NATURALIST'S

CALENDAR.

WILLIAM MARKWICK, who afterwards took the name of Eversfield, was an observant Naturalist, and communicated several papers relating to British zoology to the Linnæan Society, several of which appeared in its Transactions. He died in 1813.

In preparing an ornithological calendar in 1849 we prefaced it with the following remarks, which may, with propriety, be reprinted here, as although written for ornithology they will generally apply to any department of zoology; they also allude to the author's favourite subject, migration.

The importance of the registration of "periodic phenomena," appertaining to animals and plants, has been long acknowledged and advocated in different periodicals and works, writing of and devoted to natural history; and sundry calendars have been published, which, although they contain many points worthy of observation, and were sometimes very amply made out, were not within the reach of all observers, and did not serve as a guide for the uniform registration of the phenomena. In our numerous works relating to the Ornithology of the British Islands, we have many observations and partial lists of the appearance and disappearance of our winter, summer, and occasional visitants. The migrations; flocking and congregating of species after incubation; disappearance of certain species, and their occurrence again after a period of years have been all noted down. Many of our friends have kept private notes of these occurrences, and we have ourselves made observations over a period of nearly thirty years; but all these are neither kept to any plan, nor accompanied with notes of the temperature, weather, and other circumstances which would have added greatly to their value. They are made in various