28 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



with the weather, or at least with coming rain-storms. 

 The drought of summer is so far a convenience as to 

 throw light upon this habit, as it did upon the uneasy 

 cows. Pigs carry sticks as frequently then as during 

 wet weather, or just preceding a shower. Furthermore, 

 these gathered twigs are not brought together as though 

 to make a nest, but are scattered about in a perfectly 

 aimless manner. From some cause, the animal is uneasy, 

 and takes this curious method of relieving itself. The 

 probabilities are that it is a survival of some habit 

 common to swine in their feral condition, just as we 

 see a dog turn about half a dozen times before lying 

 down. 



In an interesting paper on local weather-lore, read by 

 Mr. Amos W. Butler before the American Association 

 for the Advancement of Science, during the Philadel- 

 phia meeting of 1884, the author has another version of 

 this saying: "When hogs gather up sticks and carry 

 them about, expect cold weather." This is wholly at 

 variance with what I have observed, for my memoranda 

 record this habit almost wholly during the hot weather, 

 and this must necessarily be the rule with New Jersey 

 swine, or the local weather prophets would not have 

 coined the verse as I have given it. 



As to the other couplet, it is about as near meaning- 

 less as any saying can well be. Some rustic rhymer, a 

 century ago, may have added it as a piece of fun, but it 

 has stuck most persistently. As it stands now, it has 

 stood for quite one hundred years. 



In reference to the dog, I have heard the following 

 more pretentious stanza, which has now taken. its place 



