Because the electrical state of the atmosphere has the effect of making them feel uneasy and irritable, and they chase each other about to get rid of the irritability.
1123. Why if birds of passage arrive early, may severe weather be expected?
Because it shows that the indications of unfavourable weather have set in, in the latitudes from which the birds come, and that they have taken an early flight to escape it.
1124. Why if the webs of the gossamer spider fly about in the autumn, may east winds be anticipated?
Because an east wind is a dry and dense wind, and suitable to the flight of the gossamer spider; the spider feeling instinctively the dryness of the air, throws out its web, and finds it more than usually buoyant upon the dense air.
The observation of the changing phenomena which attend the various states of the weather is a very interesting study, though no general rules can be laid down that can be relied upon, because there are modifying circumstances which influence the weather in various localities and climates. To observe weather indications accurately, no phenomenon should be taken alone, but several should be regarded together. The character and the duration of the weather of the preceding days, the direction of the wind, the forms of the clouds, the indications of the barometer, the rise or fall of the thermometer, and the instinctive forewarnings of birds, beasts, insects, and flowers, should all be taken into account. Although no direct material advantages attend such a study, it induces a habit of observation, and develops the inductive faculty of the mind, which, when applied to more significant things, may trace important effects to their greater causes.
"Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise."—Prov. vi.