152 Prognostics of the Weatfier. 



Sign from Nocturnal Meteors. 



WHEN an Aurora Borealis appears after some warm days, 

 it is generally succeeded by a coldness of the air, as if the 

 matter of heat was carried upwards from the earth to the 

 sky. 



Signs of the Change of Weather from the Animal 

 Creation. 



So long as the swallows fly aloft after their prey we think 

 ourselves sure of a serene sky ; but when they skim along 

 near the ground, or the surface of the water, we judge the 

 rain is not far off; and the observation will seldom fail. In 

 the year 1775, a drought of three months' continuance broke 

 up at the summer solstice ; the day before the rain came 

 upon us the swallows flew very near the ground, which 

 they had never done in the fine weather. 



In the mountainous country of Derbyshire which goes 

 by the name of the Peak, the inhabitants observe that if 

 the sheep wind up the hills in the morning to their pasture, 

 and feed near the tops, the weather, though cloudy and 

 drizzling, which is very frequently the case in those parts, 

 will clear away by degrees, and terminate in a fine day; 

 but if they feed in the bottoms, the rains will continue and 

 increase. 



Dogs grow sleepy and stupid before rain, and show that 

 their stomachs are out of order by refusing their food, and 

 eating grass, that sort which is hence called dog's grass ; 

 this they cast up again soon afterwards, and with it the 

 foulness that offended their stomachs. Water-fowl dive 

 and wash themselves more than ordinary ; and even the fish 

 in rivers are affected, because all Anglers agree that they 

 never bite freely when rain is impending. Flies, on the 

 contrary, are particularly troublesome, and seem to be more 

 hungry than usual ; and toads are seen in the evening craw- 

 ling across the road, or beaten path, where they seldom ap- 

 pear but when they are restless with an approaching change. 



Before any considerable quantity of rain is to fall most 



