SIGNS OF THE WEATHER. 171 



SIGNS FROM THE WINDS* 



When the wind veers about, uncertain!}', to 

 several points of the compass, rain is pretty sure 

 to follow. 



Some have remarked, that if the wind, as it 

 veers about, follows the course of the sun, from 

 the east towards the west, ii brings fair weather; 

 if the contrary, foal; but there is no prognostic 

 of rain more infallible, than a whistling or 

 howling noise of the wind. 



FROM NOCTURNAL METEORS* 



When an Aurora borealis appears, after soni« 

 warm days, it is generally succeeded by a cold- 

 ness of the air : as if the matter of heat was 

 carried upwards from the earth to the sky. 



SIGNS OF THE CHANGE OF fV BATHER FROM 

 THE AMIMAL CREATION, 



So long as the swallows fly aloft after their 

 prey, we think ourselves sure of a serene sky ; 

 but when they skim along near the ground, or 

 the surface at" the water, we judge the rain is 

 not far off, and the observation will seldom fail : 

 in the year 1773, a draught of three months 

 continuance broke up at the summer solstice: 

 the day before the rain came upon us, the svv^itl- 

 lows flew very near the ground, which they had 

 never done in the fine weather. 



In the mountainous country of Derbyshire, 

 which goes by the name oi' the Peak, the inha- 

 bitants observe, that if the sheep wind up the 

 hills in the mornini? to their pasture, and feed 



