48 MR BAIRD ON THE AURORA SOREALfS. 



matic colours, recalled to our minds an exhibition of the figures of a ma- 

 gic-lantern upon a most magnificent scale. Well may they be named 

 the " merry dancers," and well might the more savage nations of the 

 north, in former ages fancy, in such exhibitions as these, they saw the 

 powers of the air holding their high revels in the clear sky.* This 

 splendid display of these beautiful meteors continued for nearly two 

 hours, when they gradually decreased, became dim, and finally disap- 

 peared. On the other occasion alluded to, a different, but more magnifi- 

 cent display still, took place, which I observed whilst at Yetholm about the 

 middle of October. The night was still and calm, not a breath of wind 

 was to be felt ; the moon was within a few hours of its change, and con- 

 sequently was not visible. About eight P. M. upon going out, I was sur- 

 prised at the brightness of the night, and, distrusting my knowledge of 

 the moon's age, I looked aloft to see if that luminary was visible. The 

 first glance of the sky explained the brightness of the night, and at the 

 same time filled me with astonishment. The whole welkin, from east to 

 west, was in a blaze of light ; and I remarked that, though there was a 

 bright space stretching for some degrees above the horizon in the north, 

 the grand display of the streaming meteors was from east to west, while 

 at the same time the few that came from the north stretched to the ze- 

 nith, and some from the west shot up in that direction also, and from all 

 the three points converged towards the centre of the sky. Words can- 

 not do justice to the magnificent scene, the streams of light were 

 in constant motion, moving with vast velocity, and often sheets of liquid 

 light stretched over a great space of the sky, suddenly disappearing, and 

 being replaced by magnificent long sharp-pointed pencils of light, which 

 darted up to the zenith in one continued blaze. Once or twice, when a 

 more than usually brilliant display took place, and was accompanied with 

 these sheets of light, I thought I distinctly heard a noise, resembling ex- 

 actly the sound of a sudden but gentle breeze of wind amongst the 

 trees, a low, soft, but momentary gush of sound, as it were, not unlike 

 the noise of the quick flight of a bird overhead. I looked to the shrubs 

 and some short trees near me, but not a twig nor a withered leaf was 

 in motion : it could not have come from them. A mill-lead was within 

 a few hundred yards of me ; and, from the stillness of the night, its noise 

 could be distinctly heard from where I stood ; but the sound I have men- 

 tioned was not, to my ears, the sound of falling water, neither was 

 there any bird to be seen. As I never before heard a similar sound 

 during a display of the aurora, and as the noise, generally said to have 

 been heard, is described as a crackling noise, I satisfied myself at the 

 time, that it must have been the noise of the water only partially con- 

 veyed to my ears, or that it was the effect of imagination ; but I was 



On the appearance of this meteor, the dogs of the hunters on the shores of the 

 White Sea lie down in terror; and the name given to the meteor by these hunters is 

 (translated) the raging host is passing ! 



