642 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



if the storm should increase in violence ? And again, the silence of 

 other birds makes the twittering swallow a more prominent bird than 

 under other circumstances ; but nothing of this warrants the extrava- 

 gant assertion that no storm ever put a quietus upon them. 



The larger hawks, too, are supposed to give warning of a coming 

 shower when they utter their peculiar cat-like scream. Among our 

 old people the following may sometimes be heard repeated : 



"The hen-hawk's scream, at hot, high noon, 

 Foretells a coming shower soon." 



This couplet is of some interest, as, at present, it is not applicable 

 to our larger hawks and buzzards. Indeed, the only one of them that 

 is prone to cry out while circling overhead is the red-tailed buzzard 

 or hen-hawk, and this bird is very seldom seen in midsummer, and 

 now certainly is only heard in autumn, winter, or early spring. The 

 saying implies that formerly these birds were abundant at all times of 

 the year, and during the summer would cry out in their peculiar fash- 

 ion. The settlement of the country and general deforesting of such a 

 large portion of it have driven these hawks to more retired parts dur- 

 ing the nesting-season, and there, throughout summer, their cry may 

 indicate that it will soon rain ; but, if so, why does not the same cry 

 in autumn have some reference to the weather ? 



It is scarcely necessary to continue the list. Other birds than 

 those mentioned — reptiles, batrachians, and fishes — have all given rise 

 to certain current sayings, but of no more value than those I have 

 given, and all, I think, based upon illogical inferences. Snakes are 

 claimed as excellent barometers ; but the habits upon which the belief 

 rests are those that characterize every day of the creature's life. 

 Toads and frogs are largely depended upon, but a careful record for 

 a single season will show how little they are to be trusted ; and even 

 the fishes can not disport themselves in summer, but straightway the 

 clouds must open upon us, a tornado visit us, or premature frosts 

 balk the calculations of the farmer. 



Curiously enough, I do not find that insect-life has entered to any 

 important extent into the weather-lore of this neighborhood. Contra- 

 dictory remarks are often made as to ant-hills : thus, when they are 

 very high, it will be a dry day ; others insist that it is evidence that 

 it will soon rain. Spiders' webs, also, are variously held as of baro- 

 metric value ; but a careful record of several summers contradicts this 

 emphatically. The positions of the paper-hornets' nests, which in 

 autumn are often prominent objects in the country, after the foliage 

 drops, are variously asserted to be indicative of a "hard" or "open" 

 winter, as they chance to be placed in the upper or lower branches of 

 a tree. My skepticism as to the value of this sign arises from the fact 

 that there is, as might be expected, no uniformity in the positions of 

 any half-dozen such nests. 



