Chapter 1
VOLUME I. ISSUE I. Section 4. Nature's Barometers. Certain movements on the part of the animal creation, before a change of weather, appear to indicate a reasoning faculty. Such seems to be the case with the common garden spider, which, on the approach of rainy or windy weather, will be found to shorten and strengthen the guise of his web, lengthening the same when
the storm is over. There is a popular superstition that it is unlucky for an angler to meet a single magpie, but two of the birds together are a good omen. The reason is that the birds foretell the coming of cold or stormy weather, and at such times, instead of searching for food for their young in pairs, one will always remain on the nest. Seagulls predict storms by assembling on the land, as they know that the rain will bring earthworms and larvae to the surface. This, however, is merely
a search for food, and is due to the same instinct which teaches the swallow to fly high in fine weather and skim along the ground when foul is coming. They simply follow the flies and gnats, which remain in the warm strata of the air. The different tribes of wading birds always migrate before rain, likewise to hunt for food. Many birds foretell rain by warning cries and uneasy actions, and swine will carry hay and straw to hiding places.
Oxen will lick themselves the wrong way of the hair. Sheep will bleat and skip about. Hogs turned out in the woods will come grunting and squealing. Coats will rub their backs against the ground. Crows will gather in crowds.
Crickets will sing more loudly. Flies come into the house. Frogs croak and change color to a dingier hue. Dogs eat grass and rooks soar like hawks. it is probable that many of these actions are due to actual uneasiness similar to that which all who are troubled with corns or rheumatism experience before a storm and are caused by both the variation of barometric pressure and the changes in the electrical condition of the atmosphere
End of section four.
