62 My Pond. 



(which I confess I did not, though his wish was 

 prompted by the most generous feelings towards me) 

 that he had not his gun that he might have got a brace. 

 But they were scared by our presence, and winged 

 their flight to other scenes — " fresh woods and pastures 

 new " — doubtless disappointed in securing the object of 

 their visit. Speaking of their occasional appearance, 

 my friend said that their visits there were invariably 

 preliminary to heavy rains (it was clear and bright 

 when they came that day), a matter which he had 

 often verified, and which I had not previously done. 

 But, certainly, on this occasion he was right. Rain 

 fell heavily there on the Saturday night, and on the 

 Sunday morning so heavily as to cause very thin 

 church attendances, and again fell heavily on the 

 Monday morning; and the weather the whole week 

 following was broken and wet. It would be interesting 

 to know if the same facts, as bearing on meteorological 

 lore, have been observed in other localities. No doubt 

 the minute observations of the movements of birds, if 

 carried on systematically over the whole country, would 

 be of great use as regards weather forecasting; and, 

 at one time, when Dr. Smiles' hero, Thomas Edwards, 

 the Scottish naturalist, was still alive, there was a 

 proposal to institute such a system by securing the 

 regular aid of such local observers as he to report 

 to headquarters — a kind of wing (or wings) to the 

 Meteorological Survey. But I am not aware that it 

 has ever been carried out. 



While I stand fishing on the stump of an old elder 

 which had been cut down some years ago, and is now 

 again burgeoning into beauty, framed like a portrait 

 with greenery round me, a furze-chat pursues its 

 business of attending to its young~ s quite close to me. 



