He taught us erst the heifer's tail to view,

When struck aloft that showers would straight ensue.

He first that useful secret did explain,

That pricking corns foretell the gathering rain;

When swallows fleet soar high and sport in air,

He told us that the welkin would be clear.

Gay,

Pastoral

, i. (1714).

(Cloddipole is the "Palaemon" of Virgil's Ecl. iii.).