By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 69 



farther West lie went, he was more and more convinced that the 

 wise men came from the East ! M 



Now let me in conclusion assure the inhabitants of Wiltshire that 

 the almanack makers know nothing" about it, and that the time is 

 not yet come, when 



u Careful observers might foretell the hour 

 By sure prognostics when to dread a shower." 



If they rely on the almanack makers, or the moon, and leave their 

 umbrella at home in consequence, they will infallibly be drenched, 

 as they deserve to be : whereas if they listen to the experience of 

 the labourer or the shepherd ; still better, if they use their own eyes 

 and judgments, and observe the sky, and the clouds, and the wind ; 

 not forgetting" the plain lessons read to them by many branches of 

 the animal world, in this particular, they will rarely be led astray. 

 The signs to be derived from the animal world are very numerous 

 and very reliable ; and are much observed amongst our people in 

 consequence. As examples of the most common in this county they 

 will tell you that seldom indeed will a wet day be found to follow, 

 when in the morning cows are seen lying down in their pastures ; 

 still more seldom when rooks are noticed high in the air, or swallows 

 are seen at a great height hawking after flies : but rarest of all when 

 three white butterflies are seen together, in the garden or field ; the 

 latter a sure sign of a fine day which I have hardly ever known to 

 fail. They will tell you on the other hand that when the distant 

 downs look near ; 1 or the Common Plover or Peewit, which frequents 

 our downs in such numbers, becomes restless ; or the bees hurry 

 home, and none leave the hive ; or partridges grow wild ; or sea- 

 gulls make their appearance so far inland ; or pigs carry straw in 

 their mouths ; or insects fly low ; rain is at hand. 



These are but samples of many similar instances of unfailing in- 

 stinct in regard to weather, which every student of Nature admires 

 in the various branches of the animal kingdom. Perhaps I may 



1 Darwin, in his "Zoonomia," thinks the" presence of vapour in the air in- 

 creases its transparency, on the same principle as saturating a white opaque 

 sheet of paper with oil renders it transparent. 



