25 JANUARY 1957, Page 30

Country Life

BY IAN NIALL BERRIES on the tree, or even the movement of birds, may be reliable weather signs, but they are rather long-term things for the man who wonders about the day ahead as he departs from home in the morn- ing. 'Red sky at night, shepherd's delight,' goes the old saying. If the shepherds stop short of going into something like a clumsy 'Gathering Peascods' at the sight of a red sky, they certainly like to see a radiant sunset, 'Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning,' the saying concludes. 'It was a red sky this morning,' one hears when the trees are rocking and the rain drives against the window. There was an angry sky this morning and now, as I expected, the wind tugs at the eaves and the first wave of a hailstorm is dancing across the roof-tiles and the skylight at the head of the stairs.