342 The Fotk-Lore of Natural History. [Sess. 
An old writer says, “Where the rainbow toucheth the tree, no 
caterpillar will hang on the leaves: where the glow - worm 
creeps in the night, no adder will go in the day.” 
The Indian story of the rainbow is the most beautiful of all 
natural history legends. The old squaw, in answering Hia- 
watha’s question as to what the rainbow is, says,— 
“Tis the heaven of flowers you see there ; 
All the wild-flowers of the forest, 
All the lilies of the prairie, 
When on earth they fade and perish, 
Blossom in that heaven above us.” 
The following simple couplet is prevalent throughout the 
whole of Scotland, and with slight variations is also common 
in England— 
“The evening red and morning grey 
Are tokens of a bonnie day.” 
Of the antiquity of this observation we have it in the Scripture, 
“When it is evening, ye say, it will be fair weather: for the 
sky is red” (Matt. xvi. 2). 
The future of the weather is often augured from the flight 
of birds. In some districts there existed at one time a belief 
that the weather of the day was foretold by the two most 
conspicuous members of the crow family: if the raven cry 
first in the morning, it will be rain; if the rook, it will be 
fair. 
“The corbie says unto the craw, 
Johnnie, fling your plaid awa’; 
The craw says unto the corbie, 
Johnnie, fling your plaid about ye.” 
A homely rhyme addressed to the seagull by children used 
to be— 
“Seagull, seagull, sit on the sand ; 
It’s never good weather when youw’re on land.” 
The following account of a new weather-prophet appeared 
in the newspapers recently :— 
A sportsman who spent a holiday in Unst, the northmost of the Shet- 
land Islands, went to see the Muckle Flugga Lighthouse, which stands on 
a rocky islet about a mile from the north point of Unst. The lighthouse 
keepers told him that for nine years they had a tame rabbit living on the 
rock beside them. It had three holes on different parts of the islet over 
