intermittent vs thin on the ground

intermittent

adj
  • Existing only for certain seasons; that is, being dry for part of the year. 

  • Stopping and starting, occurring, or presenting at intervals; coming after a particular time span. 

thin on the ground

adj
  • scarce, or difficult to find. 

How often have the words intermittent and thin on the ground occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )