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 guys 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. Sea-gulls predict
storms by assembling on the land, as they know that the rain will bring
earth-worms 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, colts 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 both by the variation in barometric pressure and the changes in
the electrical condition of the atmosphere.

* * * * *

=Slain by her Defender.=--During King William's wars on the Continent,
soon after the Revolution, it was usual, at the end of the campaign, for
both armies to retire into winter-quarters, and numbers got leave of
absence to go home and see their friends. Among others who availed
themselves of this privilege was a young Highland officer, whose
relations lived in the upper parts of Perthshire. He visited about in
that district, and entertained his friends by talking of the