WEATHER BUREAU 



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WEATHER BUREAU 



latter remaining black when the rest of its 

 coat turns white to match the snow. The fe- 

 male is about thirteen inches long; the male, 

 about sixteen inches. Short-tailed weasels, 



inches. The animal's brown parts are lighter 

 and the white parts are yellower than in the 

 long-tailed species. West of the Alleghanies is 

 the Arctic least weasel, and in Texas and 



THE WEASEL 



widely distributed over the Northern United 

 States and Canada, which produce most of the 

 American ermine, are smaller than the others, 

 the male being about eleven inches in length; 

 the female is nine, the tail averaging two 



Florida there are larger varieties, but the latter 

 do not turn white in winter. Some species are 

 called polecats, or stoats. See POLECAT. 



Consult Merriam's "Synopsis of the Weasels of 

 North America" In North American Fauna. 



THE STORY OF THE WEATHER BUREAU 

 I 



BATHER BUREAU. When the sun 

 sets red or yellow in a cloudless sky we expect 

 a fine day on the morrow, but a gray, lowering 

 sunset, we say, is a sign of rain. A rainbow in 

 the evening sky recalls to our minds the old 

 rhyme: 



Rainbow at night, sailors delight : 



Rainbow in the morning, sailors take warning. 



Sometimes, on a moonlit night, we look into 

 the sky and see a aeries of circles about the 

 moon. Then we say, "We are going to 1 

 rain storm/' and are quite as confident of the 

 outcome of our prediction as Longfellow's "old 

 Sailor" in the \\'r< ck uj tin Hesperus, who had 

 >;ul<-'l the Spanish Main and knew whereof he 

 when he gave the warning : 



"I pray thee put into yonder port, 

 For I fear a hurricane. 



"Last night the moon had a golden r'ng, 

 And to-night no moon w 



These and many other bits of "WMthtt wis- 

 dom," which have been learned by observation 

 and experience or handed down by tradition, 

 are suggestive of what government weather 

 bureaus are doing on a large scale and accord- 

 ing to scientific methods. There is hardly a 

 civilized nation on the globe that does not 

 operate a bureau for the purpose of gr 

 weather information, and those of the Ui 

 States, Canada, Germany, Great Britain and 

 France an> maintained according to highest 

 standards of efficiency. 



United States Weather Bureau 



The Weather Bureau of the United States 

 has been a branch of the Department of Agri- 

 culture since 1891, but when organized in 1870 

 it was a division of the signal service in the 

 War Department. Including a large number 

 of cooperative observers who serve without re- 

 muneration (except the receipt of government 

 publications), the Bureau has the service of 



about 10,000 persons. There are several divi- 

 sions in the Bureau, each taking care of a spe- 

 cial line of activity. Foremost in interest to 

 the average citizen is the forecasting sen 



Forecast Division. The daily weather re- 

 ports that nppear with unfailing regularity in 

 the morninn and ovoning papers have become 

 Midi a matter of course that most people give 



