250 HUMMINGS IN THE AIR. 



observance of local facts, though unimportant in them- 

 selves, may at times elucidate perplexities, or strengthen 

 conclusions. 



That purely rural, little noticed, and indeed local 

 occurrence, called by the country people " hummings 

 in the air," is annually to be heard in one or two fields 

 near my dwelling. About the middle of the day, per- 

 haps from twelve o'clock till two, on a few calm, sultry 

 days, in July, we occasionally hear, when in particular 

 places, the humming of apparently a large swarm of 

 bees. It is generally in some spacious, open spot, that 

 this murmuring first arrests our attention. As we move 

 onward the sound becomes fainter, and by degrees is no 

 longer audible. That this sound proceeds from a col- 

 lection of bees, or some such insects, high in. the air, 

 there can be no doubt ; yet the musicians are invisible. 

 At these times a solitary insect or so may be observed 

 here and there, occupied in its usual employ, but this 

 creature takes no part in our aerial orchestra. We in- 

 vestigators, who endeavor to find a reason and a cause 

 for all things, are a little puzzled sometimes in our pur- 

 suits, like other people; and, perhaps, would have but 

 little success in attempting an elucidation of this occur 

 rence, which, with those circles in our pastures and on 

 our lawns, that produce such crops of fungi (agaricus 

 oreades), and are called by the common name, for want 

 of a better or more significant one, of "fairy rings,"* 

 we will leave as we find them, an odium pkysiolo- 

 gicum. 



1827. The winds of this autumn have been violent 

 and distressing, but of all variable things, we know of 

 none more so than our seasons and temperatures, pro- 

 duced probably by causes and combinations of which 

 we have no comprehension, or power of foreseeing, 

 "for these things come not by observation; we cannot 

 say, Lo here ! or Lo there ! " What can be more extra- 

 rdinary, or inexplicable by table or computation, than 

 the sudden visitation, in the midst of storms and frosts, 

 of such a day of brightness and warmth as we some- 

 times witness, cheering the aspect of all things, a 

 portrait of summer, brought from we know not what 



* See note II, appendix. 



