“. . . a sundog—gale-wind bird, some of de old people calls it—cause it a sign dat a hurricane is approachin. What? Well, sundog is a little color, little piece of cloud look more like a rainbow, on one side of de sun or de other. You don’t see it cept when de sun is going down and at de time of de sunrise. From July on, mostly August, September, October, you must watch for de sundog, in de mornin and in de evenin. By dat you can always tell in what direction dat hurricane is travellin. In days gone by, before dere was any wireless and all to tell’m things, de people used to use de gale-wind bird as a sign dat bad times was ahead.”

—Peter Matthiessen, from Far Tortuga, 1975.