OCR Text |
Show niitui ami mount i. The Kaat Indian belief In the prescience pres-cience of birds, founded upon their supposed power'of sectuglnta futurity, Is In a fair way to find adherents In morn civilized lands If any reliance can be placed upon the atorlea now widely circulated, to tlio edect that the feathered folk fly before tho iholera and glvo by tbelr wholeaalo aud sudden departure the surest Indication that tbo plague draws near. It will bo remembered that last year, after the dreadful violation of dliease bad come upon Hamburg, somebody rcoallod that n short tlmo before the tint cases appeared the birds all lift the city nnd neighborhood In a body. This hint has proved lufllolent for further observatlous of llko character; aud a really formidable formid-able array of evldeuoe lias been collected, all going to show the rule as nbiolute, that In a region whiroblrdihavebciu before, none are tote eu when the cholera appears. It seorns also that not only during last year but alaont early time; In the hli. tory of the scourge has the same fact been noticed. One writer, an Kugll.h ofllcer, avers that In 1841! bis regiment, itatlontd In India, lost 11) men lu 10 days Irm cholera, and It was paitlcularly remarkid that the vultures, kites and other blrdsof prey entirely itlsap; eared almost almultaue-ously almultaue-ously with the outbreak of thodltoaae, riturnlng generally alter tho first few days, when lis virulence begau to abate. Most ptople will bo skeptical as to accepting all this teitlmouy, notwithstanding notwith-standing Its seeming accuracj; they will deem It as of pcrha; s tqual weight with tho nautical bellif ilut rats know by Instinct when a ship Is doomed to wreck aud desert It at the last 1-ort beloro the oitastrophe o:cun. Those who caio to nrguo their Incredulity will, uu think, win nuiiy converts If they li tlsl that no form ef dUtsiv, r.ct even cholera lu II- most virulent furui, bastrverjtt ehoun Iisilf tqual to the bu.luesi of driving out thu KnjUsh sparrow. |