Therefore, in honest Jack’s eyes, to shoot one of these little wanderers of the deep, not only would invite calamity, but would instantly bring down a storm of indignation on the offender’s head. And why, indeed, should this state of mind in poor Jack be wondered at, when he hears so much about kraaken, mermaids, sea-serpents, and the like chimera, and when those who walk the quarter-deck readily lend themselves to the fostering of his delusions? A mare’s tail in the morning is another sure presage of foul weather. This consists in a long, low-hanging streak of murky vapor, stretching across a wide space in the heavens, and looking for all the world like the trailing smoke of some ocean steamer, as is sometimes seen long before the steamer heaves in sight. The mare’s tail is really the black signal of the advancing storm, drawn with a smutty hand across the fair face of the heavens. Hence the legend,-- “Mackerel sky and mare’s tails Make lofty ships carry low sails.” If the hedgehog comes out of his hole on Candlemas Day,[4] and sees his shadow, he goes back to sleep again, knowing that the winter is only half over. Hence the familiar prediction:-- “If Candlemas day is fair and clear, There’ll be two winters in the year.” The same thing is said of the bear, in Germany, as of the hedgehog or woodchuck. The Germans say that the badger peeps out of his hole on Candlemas Day, and if he finds snow on the ground, he walks abroad; but if the sun is shining, he draws back into his hole again. At any rate, the habits of this predatory little beast are considered next to infallible by most country-folk in New England. A similar prediction carries this form: On Candlemas Day just so far as the sun shines in, just so far will the snow blow in. “As far as the sun shines in on Candlemas Day So far will the snow blow in before May: As far as the snow blows in on Candlemas Day So far will the sun shine in before May.” From these time-honored prophecies is deduced the familiar warning:-- “Just half your wood and half your hay Should be remaining on Candlemas Day.” An old Californian predicted a dry season for the year 1899, because he had noticed that the rattlesnakes would not bite of late, a never failing sign of drought which few, we fancy, would feel inclined to put to the test. An unusually cold winter is indicated by the greater thickness of apple skins, corn husks, and the like. The direction from which the wind is blowing usually indicates what the weather will be for the day,--wet or dry, hot or cold,--but here is a rhymed prediction which puts all such prophecies to shame:-- “The West wind always brings wet weather The East wind wet and cold together, The South wind surely brings us rain, The North wind blows it back again. If the sun in red should set, The next day surely will be wet; If the sun should set in gray, The next will be a rainy day.”