APRIL.
PLANT LIFE.
Plants usually in flower.—Wallflower, shepherd’s purse, buttercup, anemone, marsh marigold, common vetch, plum, pear, strawberry, primrose, cowslip, daisy, dandelion, speedwell, red deadnettle, daffodil, wild hyacinth, wild tulip, rushes, arum, annual meadow grass, oak, birch, alder, willow, poplar, elm, ash, and others.
Trees which unfold their leaf-buds.—Larch, horse chestnut, beech, elm, sycamore.
Elm fruits ([p. 154]) are abundant; study the method of dispersal ([p. 173]).
Corn.—Barley and oat sowing continued.
ANIMAL LIFE.
Birds.—Sand-martins, cuckoos, swallows, house-martins, nightingales, swifts, and other birds arrive. Kestrels and sparrow-hawks nest. Fieldfares and redwings depart.
Frogs and Toads.—Tadpoles hatch.
Insects.—Cabbage-white butterflies ([p. 362]) and other Lepidoptera emerge from pupae. Caterpillars are plentiful. Moths may be taken on willow flowers at beginning of month. Larvae of Dytiscus ([p. 361]) and other aquatic insects may be found in ponds.
Molluscs.—Garden snails (p. 379) reappear.