52 WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



markably local character : a walk of half a mile along a 

 road dark from recent rain will frequently bring you to 

 a place where the dust is white and thick as ever, the 

 line of demarcation sharply marked across the high- 

 way. In winter rain takes a wider sweep. 



From the elevation of the earthwork on the downs 

 with a view of mile after mile of plain and vale 

 below it is easy on a showery summer day to observe 

 the narrow limits of the rain. Dusky streamers, like 

 the train of a vast dark robe, slope downwards from 

 the blacker water-carrying cloud above downwards 

 and backwards, the upper cloud travelling faster than 

 the falling drops. Between the hill and the rain 

 yonder intervenes a broad space of several miles, and 

 beyond it again stretches a clear opening to the horizon. 

 The streamers sweep along a narrow strip of country 

 which is drenched with rain, while on either side the 

 sun is shining. 



It seems reasonable to imagine that in some way 

 that strip of country acts differently for the time being 

 upon the atmosphere immediately above it. So 

 singularly local are these conditions, sometimes, that 

 one farmer will show you a flourishing crop of roots 

 which was refreshed by a heavy shower just in the 

 nick of time, while his neighbour is loudly complain- 

 ing that he has had no rain. When the sky is over- 

 cast large masses of cloud, with occasional breaks, 

 passing slowly across it at a considerable elevation 

 without rain sometimes through these narrow slits 

 long beams of light fall aslant upon the distant fields 



