A peck of March dust

March was expected to be a dry, blustery month, and its dust was welcomed because dry weather was wanted for sowing and planting. The old proverbs said that a peck of March dust was worth a king’s ransom and that a dry March never begs its bread. Because its winds are fiercest early on, the month was said to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb, and forefathers called it March many-weathers. Country children said the wheatear, which arrives now, had its black eye mark because some bird blackened it for going away.