The Republican journal., 1905-07-13
full investigation of strangers, without

| full investigation OF strangers, without
meaning any offence. Cows show a
sign of heat and its accompaniment,
annoying insects, when they thus col
lect together, rubbing themselves
against each other-and one might
read in this sign of fair weather ahead
Shepherds generally agree that sheep
foretell the approach of storm by show
ing unusual liveliness. They frisk and
| the most of the fine weather while it
lasts, butt each other and go through
! surprising leaping evolutions, playing
the lambs great game of follow my
leader and jump where my leader
| jumps, whether there is anything to
jump over or not. Another sign of
storm is when pigs cry and run I'M
easily, and carry their litter in their
mouths.
Coming to wilder freer animals, there
is no difficulty in supposing that they
are highly sensitive to the changes in
the weather. Delicate human bodies
respond to atmospheric changes, and
aches and nervousness may be laid to
the charge of that decreasing atmOs-
pheric pressure that precedes storm.
So are animals restless when the ba-
rometer falls. And wild animals, of
course, are far more sensitive to wealth
er influences than is man, the house
dweller.
| Weather means so much to animals
and birds To the lions and tigers a
storm might mean the loss of meal;
to birds it might mean washed out,
ruined nests, if they were absent when
the storm broke. To insects a storm
of few minutes duration might mean
| Il 70 boir 10
nature gives warning to her creatures,
through some unknown sense, SO that
the lion may eat more heartily before
the storm that may rob him of food, so
that the birds may sit securely on their
nests when the sudden floods descend
and so that the wise bees may stay at
| home. and the dragon flies may save
their delicate wings from destruction.
| But, so far as one can observe, no
animals forecast the weather more than
few hours ahead. Their actions are
| governed by present conditions. When
Whe2tears fly to shelter before the
| storm, it is because the sky has become
covered with clouds, and the clouds in
| dictate storms, as every wise bird knows,
! and Wheatears are particularly nervous
about rain. If squarrels store their nuts
early in the autumn they do so because
the cold has set in early-not because
they can foretell that the winter will
be long and hard as folklore would
| have us believe.
About birds as weather prophets the
Americans have many beliefs. Every
thing is lovely, and the goose honks
| high This is an expressive saying,
| implying that the geese are dying high
because the weather is fine. and the
| pt hot hjr1S tiyTh irrh ha fox &c
one of the Surest signs made by birds
that the weather will be fine. In North
Carolina the birds fly south from cold
weather and north from warm weather,
and when severe cyclone is at hand
they are puzzled, fly in circles dart
about wildly, and may be easily decoy-
ed Change of weather is Indicated
when geese fly past large bodies of
water, not pausing for refreshment.
American Indians predict deep fall of
snow when grouse drum at night.
The cuckoo is looked upon as true
herald of spring, herald he is natural
ly enough, because he comes in April.
Another joyous token of the end of
winter is found in the wild notes of the
missed thrush, when they ring out like
a trumpet call from the swaying tree
top The screeching of the missed
thrush before and during storms has
given him the name of storm cock, for
he loves to brave the gale. A still
better token of spring is the laughing
call of the green woodpecker. Even
though snow is ON the ground, we may
be sure that winters reign is ended
when the viking laugh of the wood
pecker rings out. An odd assortment
of ideas connecting birds and the
weather has been collected by the
United States weather bureau. Many
of the ideas have sound sense in them
or doubtless such a scientific body
would not have troubled to record them.