48 MR BAIRD ON THE AURORA B0REALI3. 



along its upper edge, and now and then assuming prismatic colours, 

 recalled to our minds an exhibition of the figures of a magic-lantern 

 upon a most magnificent scale. Well may they be named the " merry 

 dancers," and well might the more savage nations of the north, in 

 former ages, fancy, in such exhibitions as these, they saw the 

 powers of the air holding their high revels in the clear sky.* This 

 splendid display of these beautiful meteors continued for nearly two 

 hours, when they gradually decreased, became dim, and finally disap- 

 peared. On the other occasion alluded to, a different, but more mag- 

 nificent display still, took place, which I observed whilst at Yetholm 

 about the middle of October. The night was still and calm, not a 

 breath of wind was to be felt ; the moon was within a few hours of its 

 change, and consequently was not visible. About eight p.m. upon 

 going out, I was surprised at the brightness of the night, and, dis- 

 trusting my knowledge of the moon's age, I looked aloft to see if that 

 luminary was visible. The first glance of the sky explained the 

 brightness of the night, and at the same time filled me with astonish- 

 ment. The whole welkin, from east to west, was in a blaze of light ; 

 and I remarked that, though there was a bright space stretching for 

 some degrees above the horizon in the north, the grand display of the 

 streaming meteors was from east to west, while at the same time the 

 few that came from the north stretched to the zenith, and some from 

 the west shot up in that direction also, and from all the three points 

 converged towards the centre of the sky. Words cannot do justice to 

 the magnificent scene, — the streams of light were in constant motion, 

 moving with vast velocity, and often sheets of liquid light stretched 

 over a great space of the sky, suddenly disappearing, and being re- 

 placed by magnificent long sharj)-pointed pencils of light, which darted 

 up to the zenith in one continued blaze. Once or twice, when a more 

 than usually brilliant display took place, and was accompanied with 

 these sheets of light, I thought I distinctly heard a noise, resembling 

 exactly the sound of a sudden but gentle breeze of wind amongst the 

 trees, — a low, soft, but momentary gush of sound, as it were, not unlike 

 the noise of the quick flight of a bird overhead. I looked to the shrubs 

 and some short trees near me, but not a twig nor a withered leaf was 

 in motion : it could not have come from them. A mill-lead was within 

 a few hundred yards of me ; and, from the stillness of the night, its 

 noise could be distinctly heard from where I stood ; but the sound I 

 have mentioned was not, to my ears, the sound of falling water, — 

 neither was there any bird to be seen. As I never before heard a 

 similar sound during a display of the aurora, and as the noise, generally 

 said to have been heard, is described as a crackling noise, I satisfied 

 myself at the time that it must have been the noise of the water only 



* On the appearance of thia meteor, the dogs of the hunters on the shores of 

 the White Sea lie down in terror ; and the name given to the meteor by these 

 hunters is (translated) the raging host is passing ! 



