crop of 1836. The springs of 1837, 1838, 1839 and 1840 were cold and frosty when the hornbeam was in flower, and I believe not a seed was to be seen through the whole forest; during this time I scarcely saw any hawfinches, only a single bird now and then in gardens &c. The spring of 1841 was fine and warm, and there was an immense quantity of seed upon the hornbeams in the summer; as I expected, during the autumn of that year and the spring of 1842, hundreds of hawfinches were to be seen wherever there was seed, and I saw many nests in the summer. Now again there is little or no seed, and not a hawfinch is to be met with in the forest, and I have seen only one or two solitary individuals during the winter. What becomes of them all? Do they disperse over the country, or do they leave us altogether? They will feed on the kernels of haws, yew-berries, laurel and plum-stones, &c, but decidedly prefer the seed of the hornbeam to anything else; in the summer they are very destructive to green peas. They become very tame in confinement, though extremely wild in a state of nature.—Id.
Note on Birds in February.—
"On the 1st of the month partridge and pheasant-shooting end. At the end, wagtails and stonechats have usually assumed their summer or nuptial plumage, and the stock-dove frequently has young: about this time, if the weather is mild, pied wagtails stonechats and wood-larks, which had either left the country or retired to the coasts, return inland and disperse themselves in pairs over the country."—Van Voorst's Naturalists' Almanack, for 1843.[1]
Short Communication about Reptiles.
Note on the occurrence of Alligators in East Florida. Alligators are not very rare in East Florida. When I first took up my abode abode on the St. John's I never saw them, and began to imagine there were none; but in about two months' time, that is, early in March, they crept out from their winter abodes, looking pale and soddened, and one fine day I found three big fellows in the marshes close to the house, within a very short distance of each other. As the spring advanced I saw them much more often, and frequently have watched them floating like huge pine-logs down the river, their crested backs however easily distinguishing them when within a moderate distance. When first I reached Jacksonville I was very much puzzled to make
- ↑ This unpretending little almanack contains a diary of the scientific meetings, as far as relates to Natural History; a naturalists' calendar; a succinct account of the London scientific societies, &c, together with the usual almanack information.
