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bird left at Morocco, and nobody knew whence that 
which was seen over my garden had come. His ap- 
pearance was the more surprizing, as he did not seem 
to be making a passage, for he hovered for some time 
over my garden, and at last went off to the north-east. 
We may suppose that some storks hide themselves in 
this country during the winter. It was very foggy on 
that same day; and as we had a species of hurricane, it 
is possible that the wind may have driven the stork out 
of his retreat. 
The rain began in abundance about the 19th of De- 
cember; the leaves dropped very fast; and at the end of 
the month the trees were almost naked. 
In the afternoon of the 31st of December the sun 
was surrounded by a crown imperfectly defined. It 
had all the colours of the rainbow, very bright, for about 
ten degrees of its circumference. 
It was of a pale gray, like a lunar halo, for about 200 
other degrees; and the remainder was confused. 
The rain continued; and at the end of December the 
people began to sow corn. 
There was no thunder-storm till the night of the 30th 
December, the first peal was amazingly strong, and its 
rolling lasted for near two minutes. 
The wind blew almost continually from west, with 
strong and frequent gusts. 
The least heat was on the 18th of December, at five 
o'clock in the morning; it was of 47° above nought 
by Reaumur; and the cold caused a sensible impres- 
sion. 
On the 1st of January, at half-past ten o'clock in 
the morning, the thermometer was, in the sun, at 29° 5'. 
