Equation of Time.

To find the mean or true time from that indicated by a good sun-dial, subtract the following quantities from apparent time, viz.

Monday, Oct. 1st, from the time by the dial subtract 10 18

First Quarter 4th day, at 1 m. after 11 morning

Moon's Passage over the Meridian.

The Moon will pass the meridian of the Royal Observatory at the following times this month, which will afford opportunities for observing her in that position, if the state of the atmosphere will allow; viz.

October 2d, at 37 m. after 4 in the evening

Eclipses of Jupiter's Satellites.

The following are the eclipses of these bodies that will be visible in England during this month, viz.

Immersions.

1st Satellite, 3d day, at 21 m. after 0 in the morning

11th
12th

2d Satellite, 7th day, at 38 m. after 10 in the evening

1 in the morning

S

Emersion.

25th day, at 46 m. after 7 in the evening.

Form of Saturn's Ring.

Transverse axis = 1.000

October 1st, Conjugate axis =— 0.280

Other Phenomena.

Venus will be in conjunction with a in Libra on the 1st of this month, when she will be 59' south of the star. The Moon will also be in conjunction with < in Scorpio at 16 m. after 5 in the evening of the same day; and with g in Taurus at 21 m. past 1 at noon of the 15th. Saturn will be in opposition at 45 m. after 10 in the evening of the 16th; and Jupiter at a quarter past 9 in the evening of the 18th. The Moon will be in conjunction with Mars at 20 m. after 10 in the morning of the 19th; with a in Leo at 39 m. past 2 in the afternoon of the 20th; with a in Virgo at 41 m. after 2 in the morning of the 25th; and with a in Scorpio at 24 m. after 11 at night of the 28th and Mercury will be at his greatest elongation on the 31st.

Y

The Naturalist's Diary

For OCTOBER 1821.

In dappled livery Nature now is clad,
Like bonny Scot, in many-coloured plaid.

THE groves now lose their leafy honours; but before they are entirely tarnished, an adventitious beauty, arising from that gradual decay which loosens the withering leaf, gilds the autumnal landscape with a temporary splendour, superior to the verdure of spring or the luxuriance of summer.

Of the brightness and beauty of Summer and Spring
There is little left, but the roses that blow

By this friendly wall. To its covert they cling,
And eagerly smile in each sunbeam's glow:
But when the warm beam is a moment withdrawn,
And the loud whistling breeze sweeps over the lawn,
Their beauteous blossoms, so fair and forlorn,

Seem to shrink from the wind which ruffles them so.

Poor wind-tost tremblers! some months gone by,
You were fanned by breezes gentler than these;
When you stretched out your leaves to a summer sky,
And opened your buds to the hum of bees:

But soon will the winter be past, and you,
When his winds are gone to the north, shall renew
Your graceful apparel of glossy hue,

And wave your blossoms in Summer's breeze.

It is this which gives AUTUMN its magic charm
Of pensive delight to the thoughtful mind;
Its shadowy splendours excite no alarm,

Though we know that Winter lingers behind:

We rejoice that Spring will again restore
Every grace that enchanted the eye before;

And we feel that, when Nature's first bloom is o'er,
Her dearest and loveliest aspect we find.

The autumnal blasts, which whirl while we listen;
The wan, sear leaf, like a floating toy;

The bright round drops of dew, which glisten
On the grass at morn; and the sunshine coy,

Which comes and goes like a smile when wooed;
The auburn meads, and the foamy flood,
Each sight and sound, in a musing mood,

Give birth to sensations superior to joy'.

Hips, haws, sloes, and blackberries, now adorn our hedges; and the berries of the barberry (berberis vulgaris), bryony (tamus communis), honeysuckle, elder, holly, woody-nightshade, and privet (ligustrum vulgare), afford a valuable supply of food for many of the feathered race, while passing their winter with

us.

About the middle of the month, the common martin disappears; and, shortly afterwards, the smallest kind of swallow, the sand-martin, migrates. The Royston or hooded crow (corvus cornix) arrives from Scotland and the northern parts of England, being driven thence by the severity of the season. The woodcock returns, and is found on our eastern coasts.

Various kinds of waterfowl make their appearance; and, about the middle of the month, wild geese leave the fens, and go to the rye lands, to devour the young corn. Rooks sport and dive, in a playful manner, before they go to roost, congregating in large numbers. The starling (sturnus vulgaris) sings. Stares are most social birds, and are rarely seen alone; even when in small parties they are continually calling for companions with a fine clear note that may be heard at a great distance: they delight in the bright autumnal mornings to sit basking and pruning themselves in the sun on some high tree, chattering in concert in a low song-like note. Whence the prodigious flights come from that appear in the fenny districts in winter, it is not easy to conjecture, unless they migrate to England from other countries. In these progresses they probably travel alone, or journey with our only migrating corvus, the Royston crow,

2

See Poems by Bernard Barton (a Quaker), p. 34.

as they associate but little with other birds than rooks and daws. There is something singularly curious and mysterious in the conduct of these birds, previously to the nightly retirement to their reedy roost; the variety and intricacy of their evolutions in the air, and the precision with which each performs his part of the figure, are more like parade movements, than the promiscuous flight of birds: as the breeding season advances, these vast flights break into little parties, and finally subdivide into pairs. Travellers acquaint us that starlings abound in Persia, and in the regions of Caucasus; we see a few pairs about a church, a ruin of some antient fabric, and here and there about the rocks on the sea-shore, but the vast body of them probably leave the kingdom. This faculty, by which they and our migratorial tribes direct their flight from regions the most remote to some destined land, with other habits equally extraordinary, we suppose must still be called 'instinct;' under which word we include some of the strongest and most important actions of animal life, and cover our entire ignorance of the workings of Supreme Intelligence'. The awk or puffin (alca arctica) visits for the purposes of incubation some of the rocky isles of Britain, in amazing numbers; they arrive and leave their breeding haunts annually, with an exactitude (almost to a day) that is most remarkable; nor are they seen again in any of the surrounding seas until the succeeding summer restores them: the winter haunts of these birds were until recently only conjectured; our late arctic voyagers found them in prodigious swarms in the open

■ Large flights of red-wings and field-fares arrive in England about the end of October, or beginning of November, and they generally give notice of their progress by the repeated calls or signals of the leading birds to prevent the wandering of the flights: the clamour of the whole is not heard at once, but now and then a shrill call or distant notice to their followers; these pipings, in a calm and mild evening, add greatly to the solemnity and interest of the hour.