To all observers the following most important, most essential principles of recording are emphasised: Better no date, NO RECORD, than a WRONG ONE or a DOUBTFUL one. Sports out of season due to very local conditions not common to at least a small field, should not be recorded except parenthetically. The date to be recorded for the purposes of compilation with those of other localities should be the first of the many of its kind following immediately after it. For instance, a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis in a sheltered cranny by a southern window in January would not be an indication of the general climate, but of the peculiarly heated nook in which the chrysalis was sheltered; nor would a flower in a semi-artificial, warm shelter give the date required. When these sports out of season occur, they might also be recorded, but within a parenthesis to indicate the peculiarity of some of the conditions affecting their early appearance.
These schedules should be sent in to the inspector with the annual school returns in July, containing the observations made during the whole school year and back as far as the preceding July (if possible), when the schedule of the previous school year was necessarily completed and sent in.
A duplicate copy of the schedule of observations should be securely attached to the school register for the year, so that the series of annual observations may be preserved in each locality. The new register has a page for such records.
Remember to fill in carefully and distinctly the date, locality, and other blanks at the head of the schedule on the next page; for if either the date or the locality or the name of the responsible compiler should be omitted the whole paper is worthless and cannot be bound up for preservation in the volume of The Phenological Observations.
PHENOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS, CANADA
(1906 Schedule)
For the year ending July, 190.
| Province ____________ County ______________ | ||
| District ____________ locality or School Section | ||
| ____________________________ No. ________ | ||
| [The estimated length and breadth of the locality within which the following observations were made ______ × ______ miles. Estimated distance from the sea-coast ______ miles. Estimated altitude above the sea level ______ feet. | ||
| Slope or general exposure of the region _____________________ | ||
| General character of the soil and surface ___________________ | ||
| Proportion of forest and its character ______________________ | ||
| Does the region include lowlands or intervales? _____________ | ||
| and if so name the main river or stream ________________ Or | ||
| is it all substantially highlands? ________________________ | ||
| Any other peculiarity tending to affect vegetation? _________ | ||
| _____________________________________________________________ | ||
| The most central Post Office of the locality or region _____________ | ||
| Name and Address of the Teacher or other Compilerof the Observations responsible for their accuracy. | When First Seen. | When Becoming Common. |
| _______________________________ | ||
| _______________________________ | ||
| Wild Plants, etc.—Nomenclature as in“Spotton” or “Gray’s Manual.” | ||
| Alder (Alnus incana), catkins shedding pollen | ||
| Aspen (Populus tremuloides), „ | ||
| Mayflower (Epigæa repens), flowering | ||
| Field Horsetail (Equisetum arvense), shedding spores | ||
| Blood-root (Sanguinaria Canadensis), flowering | ||
| White Violet (Viola blanda), flowering | ||
| Etc., etc., etc. | ||
| Cultivated Plants, etc. | ||
| Red Currant (Ribes rubrum), flowering | ||
| „ „ fruit ripe | ||
| Black Currant (Ribes nigrum), flowering | ||
| „ „ fruit ripe | ||
| Cherry (Prunus Cerasus), flowering | ||
| „ „ fruit ripe | ||
| Plum (Prunus domestica), flowering | ||
| Etc., etc., etc. | ||
| Farming Operations, etc. | ||
| Ploughing begun | ||
| Sowing begun | ||
| Planting of Potatoes begun | ||
| Shearing of Sheep | ||
| Hay Cutting | ||
| Grain Cutting | ||
| Potato Digging | ||
| (Meteorological Phenomena.) | ||
| Opening of (a) Rivers, (b) Lakes without currents | ||
| Last Snow (a) to whiten ground, (b) to fly in air | ||
| Last Spring Frost (a) “hard” (b) “hoar” | ||
| Water in Streams, Rivers, etc., (a) highest, (b) lowest | ||
| First Autumn Frosts (a) “hoar” (b) “hard” | ||
| First Snow (a) to fly in air, (b) to whiten ground | ||
| Closing of (a) Lakes without currents, (b) Rivers | ||
| Number of Thunder-storms (with dates of each) | ||
| Jan_____________, Feb_____________, Mar_____________ | ||
| Apr_____________, May_____________, June_____________ | ||
| July_____________, Aug_____________, Sept_____________ | ||
| Oct_____________, Nov_____________, Dec_____________ | ||
| Going North or coming in Spring. | Going South or leaving in Fall. | |
| Migration of Birds, etc. | ||
| Wild Duck migrating | ||
| Wild Geese migrating | ||
| Song Sparrow (Melospiza fasciata) | ||
| American Robin (Turdus migratorius) | ||
| Slate-coloured Snow Bird (Junco hiemalis) | ||
| Spotted Sand Piper (Actitis macularia) | ||
| Meadow Lark (Sturnella magna) | ||
| Kingfisher (Ceryle Alcyon) | ||
| Etc., etc., etc. | ||