WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 51 



the weather, say that the hills " draw " the thunder- 

 that wherever a storm arises it always " draws " to- 

 wards them. If it comes from the west it often splits 

 one storm going along the ridges to the south, and 

 the other passing over detached hills to the north- 

 ward ; so that the basin between is rarely visited by 

 thunder overhead. They have, too, an old supersti- 

 tion based, apparently, on a text of the Bible that 

 the thunder always rises originally in the north, though 

 it may reach them from a different direction. For it 

 is their belief also that thunder " works round ; " so 

 that after a heavy storm, say in the afternoon, when 

 the air has cleared to all appearance, they will tell 

 you that the sunshine and calm are a deception. In 

 a few hours' time, or in the course of the night, the 

 storm will return, having " worked round ; " and 

 indeed in that locality this is very often the case. It 

 is to be observed that even a small copse will for a 

 short distance in its rear quite divert the course of a 

 breeze, so that a weathercock placed on the leeside 

 is entirely untrustworthy : if the wind really blows 

 from the south and over the copse, the weathercock 

 will sometimes point in precisely the opposite direc- 

 tion, obeying the " undertow " of the gale, as it were, 

 drawing backwards. 



In summer especially, I fancy, an effect is sometimes 

 produced by a variation in the electrical condition of 

 comparatively small areas, corresponding perhaps with 

 the difference of soil one becoming more heated 

 than another. Showers are certainly often of a re- 



