386 Wild Life in a Southern County. 
resemble the aurora borealis, which takes the same 
form, and, when pale, can scarcely be distinguished 
from them, except for the streamers shooting—now 
extending, now withdrawing—while the cloud streamers 
only drift slowly. Sometimes there is but one line of 
cloud, a single streamer stretching right across the sky. 
So far as I have been able to observe, this radiation 
is usually followed by wind blowing in a direction 
parallel to the course of the streamers. 
Once while walking in winter I was overtaken by 
a storm of rain, and took shelter behind a tree, which 
for some time kept me perfectly dry. But suddenly 
there came an increase of darkness, and, glancing 
round, I saw a black cloud advancing in the teeth of 
the.wind, and close to the earth. The trees it passed 
were instantly blotted out, and as it approached I 
could see that in the centre it bulged and hung down 
—or rather slightly slanting forward—in the shape of 
an inverted cone with the apex cut off. This bulging 
part was of a slaty black, and the end travelled over 
the earth not higher than half the elevation of an 
ordinary elm. It came up with great speed, and ina 
moment I was completely drenched, and the field was 
flooded. It did not seem so much to rain as to 
descend in a solid sheet of water; this lasted a very 
short time, and immediately afterwards the storm 
began to clear. Though not a perfect waterspout, it 
was something very near it. The tree behind which 
I had taken shelter stood near a large pond or mere; 
