WEATHER SIGNS. 73 



without any increase of motion ; for not only is the air 

 a better conductor of sound, but the east wind bears the 

 sound more directly to our ears. * 



I have as yet treated chiefly of the signs that portend 

 rain, during dry weather. The signs of fair weather 

 during rain are less familiar to us, because our opportu- 

 nities for observing them are less favorable. We can- 

 not see them in the habits of flowers, but the lower ani- 

 mals are commonly affected in some peculiar manner, 

 when a change is about to take place. While man is, 

 for the most part, governed by his own reason and ob- 

 servation, the lower animals are unconsciously actuated 

 by a wisdom that is above them, and which, through 

 the medium of their sensations, guides them to certain 

 movements often attributed to a prescience that does 

 not belong to them. 



On the approach of fair weather, the cattle leave their 

 shelters, and prefer to lie in the open field, and the 

 sheep seek the brow of the hill, because they are gov- 

 erned by their own sense of comfort. The birds which 

 are restless and unmusical before a storm, come out of 

 their retreats after it has passed away, and if the state 

 of the atmosphere is such as indicates a permanent 

 change, they perceive this in connection with the pro- 

 tracted light of day, and prolong their strains to a com- 

 paratively late hour in the evening. Hence, the woods 

 are unusually vocal after a summer shower, unless there 

 are other showers preparing to rise. If the birds sing 

 at this critical moment, we shall not fail to observe the 

 flies in great numbers hovering in the beams of the sun, 

 and swarms of gnats whirling round in a sort of hollow 

 column or vortex ; as the moist air that precedes a rain, 

 scatters them, the dryer and more bracing air that fol- 

 lows it, assembles them again and prompts them to 



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