Animals as Barometers. 



-A-LIKE when we listen to our unlettered neigh- 

 bors, or study the collected folk-lore of any people, 

 it will be seen that animals, both wild and domes- 

 ticated, enter largely into every community's 

 weather-wisdom ; nor can we wonder, considering 

 how every creature we meet, whether in the woods 

 or open fields, is influenced by the condition of 

 the weather prevailing at the time. There is, as 

 many know, a vast difference between a bird's ac- 

 tions, for instance, during a bright May morning 

 and perhaps the next day, when a chilly north- 

 east storm prevails. Here, however, we have a 

 change in the bird, subsequent to an altered con- 

 dition of the weather, which is quite natural and 

 of little significance, and so our interest centres in 

 the suggestion that centuries ago arose in the 

 minds of men, — Are the animals about us, of 

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