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Show ( Pucka Fly South j "IVILD clucks and cranes up north are begin-.VYning-o-fl-fwith- aliwrs w-fMnth ahead of usual lime. This is announced by the Canadian National railways, retayinf word received from their agents. Old settlers say that never within memory have they known the ducks and cranes to start their southward migratory flights so early. The settlers believe that an early winter is coming. , Hudson Bay fur trappers report that the wild rice, farvorite food of wild ducks and geese, matured very early this year. The trappers say this is another indication that winter Is not far away. ; The weather this year has been so- queer a'll over the world, due to -the sun's giving; off about 5 per cent less heat than usual, thai winter might arrive two months ahead of its customary schedule. Spring was late in most parts of the earth. Summer came in hot waves, working double to make up for lost time. . The maple Jeaves in the tourist country of Ontario started turning red and yellow in mid-August, nearly a month early. That looks like an early fall, forerunner of an early winter. ' Ojfbway Indians, on the other hand, insist that all the seasons are theee weeks late this year and that winter will arrive late instead of ahead of schedule. They base their prediction pre-diction on the fact that in August they have had to fish 200 feet deep to catch genuine salmon trout, whereas normally they would find these trout "floating" 100 feet below the surface of the lakes. The Indians figure that the salmon trout will be three weeks late in risitjg to spawn on the shoals this fall. Which, say the Ojib-ways, Ojib-ways, is a sure sign of a late fall and a late winter. The controversy narrows down to this: Which is the better weather prophet, a wild duck, or a deep water fish? . Both are guided by instinct of a mysterious sort that enables them to sense the weather months ahead. ' Even old Mother Nature seems to be contradictory con-tradictory this year, as confused as we who in our rise to civilization have lost the sixth sense possessed by wild ducks, salmon trout and to a lesser extent Indians. |