PICTORIAL CALENDAR OF THE SEASONS EXHIBITING THE PLEASUTES, PURSUITS, AND CHARACTERISTICS OF COUNTRY LIFE FOR EVERY MONTH IN THE YEAR AND EM BODYING THE WHOLE OF AIKIN'S CALENDAR OF NATURE. EDITED BY MARY HOWITT. EMBELLISHED WITH UPWARDS OF ONE HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD. LONDON: 1854. PREFACE. The English are not only the first landscape-painters in the world, but their literature abounds pre-eminently in descriptions of the joys and amenities of the country. As a people we love nature ; our poets have ever luxuriated in pourtraying her beauty, and our noblest intellects have been refreshed and invigorated by her intimate acquaintance. The compilation of the following pages, which may be regarded as an expansion and illustration of “ Aikin's Calendar of Nature,” has been to me like a walk through a rich summer garden; on all hands were flowers and leafy trees, and birds carolling over head in a sunny sky. My business was to gather a nosegay; here I plucked a rose or a lily, there a richly-laden spray from some overhanging bough; now I watched the insects in the grass, or a butterfly Alitting along, now listened to the sweet singing of the birds, ever gathering more and more, till my nosegay exceeded all bounds, and the only difficulty has been to bring the beautiful tribute of the garden into the compass in which it is here presented to the public. MARY HOWITT. LONDON, December 18, 1853. CONTENTS. JANUARY . . . . FEBRUARY. Life" . . . . . . . . . ... Perpetual Almanae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Voice and Song of Birds.—Bechstein Plumage of Birds.- Ditto . . . Migration of Birds.-Ditto . . . Lines to a Swallow.-Richard Howitt . Nests of Birds . . . . . . . . The Cuckoo, Welsh superstitions respecting.–Miss Lucas Strange situations of Birds'-nests.-Stanley . . . Mole-Crickets.-Kirby and Spence; Gilbert White . April Woods.—Miss Mitford . . . . . Angling. Browne's Pastorals.--Izaak Walton . . . 198 Perpetual Almanac . . . . . . . . . 189 Aikin's Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 191 May-Day Carols and May-Flowers from the Poets and others . Skylarks and Nightingales.-—The Poets and others . . . . 207 Birds.—Poem by Mary Howitt . . . . . . . 219 The Nightingale and Skylark.— Main . . . . . . 220 Walk through May Woods.--William Howitt . . . . . 233 A May Festival in Germany.-From "An Art-Student in Munich” 234 |
