118 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
If in a morning some parts of the sky appear green, be- 
tween the clouds, while the sky is blue above, stormy wea- 
ther is quickly approaching. 
Sun. — Rising orangy, rain; rising red and fiery, wind 
and rain; cloudy, and the clouds decrease, certain fair 
weather; rising dimly, drizzly. If the sun’s rays breaking 
through the clouds are visible in the air, it is a proof that 
the air is sensibly filled with vapours, which reflect the 
rays to the sight, and these vapours will soon produce 
rain. When there is a haziness aloft in the air, so that the 
sun’s light fades by degrees, and his orb looks whitish and 
ill defined, it is one of the most certain signs of rain. 
Sun setting foul, rain; red, wind or rain; blue, rain; 
dusky, streaked with red, storm; purple, fine; bright, fine; 
when the sun appears white at setting, or goes down into 
a dusky bank of clouds, it portends the approach and con- 
tinuance of bad weather. 
Moon and Stars. — When the moon and stars grow dim 
in the night with a haziness in the air, and a ring or circle 
appears round the moon, rain is at hand. 
If the moon looks red, it is a sign of wind; if pale and 
dim, of rain; if white, and of her natural colour, with the 
sky clear, of fair weather. 
Should the moon be rainy throughout her course, it 
will clear up at the ensuing change, and rain will probably 
fall in a few days after, and continue; if, on the contrary, 
the moon has been fair, and at the change it rains, fine 
weather will, in all likelihood, be restored about the fourth 
or fifth day of the moon, and be of some duration. When 
the moon is bright with sharp tips, fair; new moon not ap- 
pearing till the fourth day, rainy month; the lower horn 
of the new moon sullied, foul weather before the full; the 
middle, storms about the full; the upper horn, foul about 
the wane. Saturday’s moon, rainy month. 
Atmosphere. — Cold after rain, rain; cold in summer, 
rain; warm in winter, rain; sultry in summer, thunder; 
heavy, fair; light, rain; moist, rain; dry, fair. 
Rain. — Sudden rain seldom lasts long; coming on gra- 
dually, and when the air grows thick by degrees, and the 
sun, moon, or stars, shine more and more dim, it is likely 
to continue six hours. Beginning with a high southerly 
wind, and the wind subsides, rain for twelve hours or 
more, and sometimes continues until a strong north wind 
clears the air; beginning before sun-rise, will end before 
noon; a shower before sun-rise, a fine day usually suc- 
ceeds; beginning an hour or two after sun-rise, a rainy 
day; setting in wet between eleven and twelve o’clock, a 
rainy afternoon; clearing up about that time, the after- 
noon fine; cold wind after rain, more rain; a squall, or 
rain, or hail, settled fair; a rainy Friday, the same wea- 
ther on Sunday; and a wet Sabbath is frequently followed 
by a daggly week. 
Sounds, such as bells, noise of waters, beasts, birds, 
heard distinctly from a great distance, portend rain. If 
the earth, or any fenny places, yield any extraordinary 
scents, or any disagreeable smells arise from drains, rain. 
A white frost, rain within three days; the more than usual 
sinking of rivers, presages rain. The speedy drying of 
the surface of the earth denotes a northerly wind and fair 
weather; and its becoming moist, southerly wind and rain, 
for the air sucks up all the moisture on the surface, even 
though the sky be overcast, and that is a sure sign of fine 
weather; but if the earth continue damp, and water stand 
in shallow places, no trust should be put in the clearest 
sky; for, in this case, it is deceitful. 
Animals. — If cattle or sheep feed greedily and faster 
than ordinary when it rains, it is a sign of the rain’s con- 
tinuance; and when sheep skip and play wantonly, rain is 
at no great distance. If the sheep wind up the hills in the 
morning to their pasture, and feed near the tops, the wea- 
ther, although cloudy and drizzling, will clear away by 
degrees, and terminate in a fine day; but if they feed in 
the bottoms, the rain will continue and increase. Geese 
and ducks more noisy, and washing and diving more than 
usual, rain; cock crowing in the middle of the day, and 
peacock squalling much, rain; hawks hovering high in the 
air, fine weather; owls screaming frequently in the even- 
ing when foul, fair and frosty. 
Swallows skimming the surface of waters, rain; so long 
as they keep aloft after their prey, the sky is serene; but 
when they descend and flit along the surface of the earth 
or water, rain is not far off. A drought of three months’ 
duration broke up at the summer solstice in 1775: the 
day previous to the rain falling, the swallows flew very 
near the ground, which they had never done during the 
whole period of the dry weather. Sparrows chirping 
much in a fine morning, rain. 
Dogs are said by some to he particularly sleepy, and to 
eat grass, before rain; but grass is a salutary vomit which 
nature prompts them to take at all times, when their sto- 
machs require such an evacuation ; of course it is not an 
unerring proof that the approach of rain alone drives them 
to seek this remedy. Moles throwing up more earth than 
usual, and its being small and dry, and their appearance 
sometimes above ground, rain. Worms creeping in num- 
bers out of the ground, rain: and from the same principle, 
that they as well as moles, are sensible of the access of 
something new in the atmosphere, and to the surface of 
the earth. Frogs appearing of a golden hue, fine; dusky 
colour, rain: and toads, in an evening, crawling over the 
road or beaten path, where they are seldom seen, but 
