THE ROOK. 237 



or rain.^ If Crows come near dwelling-houses in consider- 

 able numbers during winter, in search of food, especially 

 about the doors, it is alleged that a severe gale is brewing, 

 and will speedily arrive.^ In winter, when they are 

 observed flocking and feeding eagerly in the fields, if there 

 be no snow on tlie ground, a snow-storm is thought to be 

 indicated — 



Now caiild blaws the wind aud the north's angry form 



Spreads dark owre the welkin around ; 

 The bizzie Craws tell o' the fierce coming storm, 



Where thousands feed black'ning the ground.^ 



Should snow be lying on the ground at the time, fresh 

 weather is anticipated. When they sit silent in rows on 

 palings and dykes, rain is thought to be foretold.* The 

 apparent susceptibility of the Eook to changes of the weather 

 seems to have attracted the notice of Virgil, and is thus 

 alluded to in his Georgics : — 



Turn liquidas corvi presso ter gutture voces 

 Aut quater ingeminaut ; et soepe cubilibus altis, 

 Nescio qua prceter solitum dulcedine la?ti, 

 nter se foliis strepitant ; juvat, imbribus actis, 

 Progeniem parvam dulcesque revisere nidos. 



1 Mr. Lockie writes on 29th Jan. 1887, with regard to the neighbourhood of 

 Spottiswoode :— "If Crows are observed high overhead in a flock, and begin 

 suddenly to dive and sweep towards the earth, it is said that a high wind will 

 soon spring up. This is a common remark made during the harvest season when 

 crops are in stock, as farmers look eagerly for every sign of a drying wind 

 during that fickle period." Mr. James Smith, shepherd, Byrecleugh, told me 

 in July 1886, that in that district, when Crows are seen flying high in the air 

 and diving down, it is believed to presage wind and rain. The following is an 

 extract from the Meteorological Registers of Captain Bell, of the Berwickshire 

 Militia, who lived at Linthill, near Eyemouth, in 1802: — "Linthill, 7tli Oct. 

 1802. — The Crows flying and 'swiping ' down in dift'erent directions, as they do 

 before wind." On the 8th he notes ; — " It blows a good deal." 



- Spottisivoode District. — W. Lockie. 



3 Poems of Andreiu Scott : Bowden, 1801. 



* Miss Georgina Milne-Horae has informed me that, on some occasions, when 

 the Rooks return to the rookery at Milne Graden in the autunm and winter 

 afternoons, instead of alighting upon the trees in the usual way, they all sit down 

 in immense flocks in the adjoining fields, and wait there, apparently doing 

 nothing, imtil it is almost dark. I have heard it said that they have been 

 observed to do this on the aj)proach of stormy weather. 



