DORSET WEATHER LORE. 147 



in which this old adage is generally known to Dorset 

 folk :— 



" Red in the morning, 



Shepherds' fore-warning ; 



Red at night, 



Shepherds' delight." 



(vi.) Or, a shorter version : — 



" Red in the morning, 

 All day storming." 



(vii.) Mr. Norris gives a combination of these two : 

 " Urds (red clouds) en tha marnin'. 

 All tha day starmin' ; 

 Urds en tha night, 

 'Z tha shephe'ds' delight " 



(or, " All the day bright "). 

 The general distrust of " mackerel " sky from a 

 weather point of view is shewn from two rhymes 

 given by Mr. Norris in his list of weather lore items 

 above mentioned. 



(viii.) " Mack'el sky en maa's (mare's) tails, 

 Da maake zailas (sailors) Iowa zails." 



And : 

 (ix.) " Mack'el sky, 



Wun't be vaour 'n twenty hours dry." 



(x.) The old Dorset proverb that 

 " A fog on the hill 



Brings water to the mill," 



is, of course, a clear indication of rain, 

 (xi.) The ancients were not the only people to practise 

 divination from observations of the flight of birds 

 or the actions of animals. In Dorset it is commonly 

 believed that if rooks are seen to be flying round and 

 round, cawing loudly or in a " charm," as the 

 rustics would say, and frequently dropping in their 

 flight and recovering themselves, it is a sign of 



