ST.VALENTINE:GEOFREY CHAUCER'S PARLIAMENT OF FOWLS.PART 3

the first days of May trailingbehind them,their ducklings.Birds'instinct for gathering nesting materials can be noticed even January and depending on how wild the winter is,so they start mating by late February.Nevertheless,February 14,is a probability and May too is right but far too late for the first mating of the year.If Chaucer did write,he did so or was writing under the influence of the Julian calendar and his February 14 was closer to the end of February by the standard of mordern Gregorian calendar.Ordinarily we imbibed valentine from ornithological studies and certainly the ancient or pagans fired the first salvo,from which almost allwestern norms emanated from.They begin courtship and mating quite early in February which is why valentine begins during theperiod in some parts of the world.Some critics have pointed to midfebruary as an unlike time of theyears for birds to mate especially in England.Unlike the general norm in which feb 14 was established as a christian feast day of the saint valentine