THE PIG AS PROPHET.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 7 October 1922, Page 3

THE PIG AS PROPHET.

The alertness with which the pig responds to atmospheric changes forms the topic of a rhyme once popular throughout the south-west of Scotland: Grumphy smells the weather, -Snd Grumphy can see the wind, He kens when clouds will gather, And smoor the very eun. Wi' his mou' fu' o' strae He to his den mun gae, Grumphy is a prophet O' the weather we will ha'e. Many country folk to this day place high faith in animals as weather pro- ; phets, like the shepherd who remarked "That there old ram, he know* what ' weather be a-coming, for if so be he

t ' turn tail to wind, then 'twill rain-like, but if he grazes head to wind 'twill be fine-like.' 3 The gamekeeper will tell you that his dogs roll on the ground, and scratch up thp earth with their fore-feet, if it is going to rain. Farmers know that animals crowd together if a storm is imminent; some people will even say that oxen lie on their nglrN&jde if it is making for a shower, but this is nol altogether trustworthy. Asses shake and agitate their ears to indicate com ing ram. If the ducks and geese on a pond be watched they will be seen to rush backwards and forwards in the water, and I to plunge frequently beneath the surI face, should it be making for wet The 'statement that moles throw up'more earth than usual before a change of weather may be dmibted, brtTit is true nevertheless.