288 Poachers and Poaching. 



garden paths are everywhere covered with slugs 

 and snails. When the chaffinch says "weet, 

 weet," it is an infallible sign of rain. As the 

 rain draws nearer peacocks cry and frogs croak 

 clamorously from the ditches. These are signs 

 which almost every one has heard who lives in 

 the country ; though one of the surest ways of 

 predicting weather changes is by observing the 

 habits of snails. Snails never drink, but imbibe 

 moisture during rain and exude it afterwards. 

 They are seldom seen abroad except before rain, 

 when they commence climbing trees and getting 

 upon leaves. The tree snail is so sensitive to 

 weather that it will commence to climb two days 

 before the rain comes. If the downpour is to be 

 prolonged, the snail seeks the under part of a 

 leaf ; but if a short or light rain is coming on, it 

 stays on the outside. There is another species 

 which is yellow before and bluish after it. 

 Others indicate change by dents and protuber- 

 ances resembling tubercles. These begin to 

 show themselves ten days before rain, and when 

 it comes the pores of the tubercles open and 

 draw in the moisture. In others again deep in- 

 dentations, beginning at the head between the 

 horns and ending with the jointure of the tail, 

 appear a few days before a storm. 



One of the simplest of nature's barometers is 

 a spider's web. When there is a prospect of 

 wind or rain, the spider shortens the filaments by 



