PROGNOSTICS CONTINUED. 



Hu:e flocks of rising rooks forsake their focd, 

 And crying, seek the shelter of the wood; 

 Besides, the several sorts of wat'ry fowls, 

 That swim the seas or haunt the standing pools, 

 Then lave their backs with sprinkling dews in vain, 

 And stem the stream to meet the promised rain. 

 Then, after showers, 'tis easy to descry, 



Returning suns, and a serener sky. 



****** 



Their litter is not tossll by sows unclean, 



* * # -.-," * * 



And owls, that mark the setting sun, declare 



A star-lio;ht evening, and a morning fair. 



% * * * * * 



Then thrice the ravens rend the liquid air, 

 And croaking notes proclaim the settled fair; 

 Then round their airy pala< es they rly 

 To creet the sun, and seiz'd with secret joy 

 When storms are overblown, with food repair 

 To their forsaken nests and callow care. 



The crow has been particularly remarked by 

 the ancients to presage rain, when she caws, and 

 walks alone on the sea-shore, or on the banks of 

 rivers and pools. Thus Virgil, in the first 

 Georgic. 



Turn comix rauca pluviam vocat improba voce, 

 Et sola in sicca secuin spatiatur arena. 



The crow with clamourous cries the shower demands, 

 And single stalks along the desert sands. 



DRVDEN. 



Pliny makes the same observation, in the 35th 

 chap, of his 18th book : Et cum terrestes volu- 

 cres contra aquasclangores fundentes sese sed 

 jiiaxime comix : " It is a sign of rain, when land 

 fowl, and especially crows, are clamourous near 

 waters, and wash themselves. " 



