BETWEEN MAN AND ANIMALS. 25 



shall mention another, in which memory ex- 

 perience was associated with feeling. It also 

 occurred in Ceylon ; it impressed me so much 

 at the time that I made a note of it, which, 

 with your leave, I will read to you, the note- 

 book being at hand. "Kandy, April 7th, 1818, 

 4 P.M." (pray endure my tediousness) : the note 

 proceeds: "This afternoon there has been a 

 good deal of lightning, thunder, and rain. At 

 this instant the lightning is vivid, and the 

 thunder loud, bursting overhead, and rolling 

 as it were from hill to hill. What surprises 

 me is, that the birds are now unusually vocal ; 

 they seem to rejoice in the storm, as if conscious 

 of its beneficial effects, like the inhabitants of 

 the desert, who, when they see sheet lightning, 

 hail it (according to Park) with acclamations as 

 a sure indication of rain." The account con- 

 tinues : " I cannot help listening attentively to 

 the birds, and I am confident that not a note is 

 interrupted by the loudest thunder. Their 

 singing at this time is the more extraordinary, 

 since had the weather been dry and fine, and 

 of course hot, they would at this hour of the 

 day have been silent. How different (I add) is 

 the effect of a thunder storm in England, where 



