The following appearances indicate a change in the weather: When the atmosphere is clear and crystalline and the stars appear extremely bright; when the background of the horizon seems to be pinned up against the foreground; when the clouds form into delicate white film-like mist way up overhead. (Fig. 33.) WHAT FOG AND DEW INDICATE Locality has considerable to do with what the fog indicates. As a rule, where you have fog, there is not much wind, and as a result it does not indicate stormy weather, unless the fog becomes heavy with overhanging sky, then it is apt to turn into rain, but a heavy fog with a light sky indicates fine weather. A fog in the morning generally indicates a fair day. A rising fog is a good indication for fair weather. [Illustration: _Courtesy Julien Friez & Sons, Baltimore, Md._ Fig. 34 ] [Illustration: Fig. 35 ] Dew is a pretty good sign of fine weather. When you can see and hear with remarkable clearness, and everything is calm and still, it is a pretty infallible sign that cold weather is due. Frost may be looked for on clear, calm, cloudless nights, when the ground is apt to be cooler than the air. INDICATIONS FROM CIRRUS CLOUDS When these clouds suddenly appear in the sky on a clear summer day, they indicate wet weather. Especially if the weather ends turn upward, which means that the clouds are coming down. When moisture in the form of little drops cling to vegetation, it is a pretty good indication that there is apt to be more rain. When the sky assumes the appearance of a gray mass and the sun is observed shining through, it is a pretty good indication that it will rain before night. When overhead clouds are thick and grayish and the lower surface of them is lumpy, this is an indication of rain. Whirlwinds of dust are also indications of rain. THE MOON The rings that we see formed about the moon are caused by the delicate white clouds through which the moon is shining. [Illustration: _Courtesy Julien Friez & Sons, Baltimore, Md._ Fig. 36 ] THE RAINBOW The morning rainbow indicates that a shower is in the west, but if the rainbow is in the east it indicates that the shower has passed over. BIRDS AND STORMS There are certain actions of birds that indicate many things pertaining to the weather that are interesting. It is probable that their ability to fly into the air gives them a view of the horizon, that by instinct they have been able to determine the atmospheric changes. For instance, it is well known that if birds of long flight remain at their base, it generally foretells a storm. The sudden silence of birds has been referred to a great many times preceding a storm. Barnyard fowls do many peculiar things that foretell certain weather conditions. The crow flies low and in great circles, cawing loudly, before approaching rain.