It is observed by Dr. Forster in the “Perennial Calendar,” that the
weather at this time is usually mild, and wet, with fogs; we have an
occasional interchange of frosts. On some occasions a kind of weather
occurs now which occasionally happens during all the winter months. The
air becomes perfectly calm, the sky clouded and dark, without much mist
below, the ground gets dry, and not a leaf stirs on the trees, and the
sounds of distant bells, and other sounds and noises are heard at a
great distance, just as they are on other occasions before rain. The
thermometer is often from 45° to 52°. The barometer rises to “set fair”
and remains steady, and the current of smoke from the chimnies either
goes straight upright into the air in a vertical column, or inclines so
little with the breath of air as to indicate sometimes one wind and
sometimes another. At this time the crowing of the cocks, the noise of
busy rooks and daws, which feed in flocks in the meadows, and fly at
morning and eventide in flocks to and from their nests, the music of
distant singing, and the strokes of the church clocks and chimes are
heard for miles, as if carried along under the apparent sounding board
of the clouds above. Even the voices of persons are heard at a vast
distance, all being hushed around.
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