Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 2, 1891.djvu/536

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Weather Folk-lore of the Sea.

If the wind blows from the west or north-west, and towards evening goes to the north, it is called the "wife that goes out at even", and soon springs up into a breeze (Macduff).

If the wind blows from the south-west, with blackness in the west and a bank of cloud to the east, the wind backs to the south before the blackness in the west, and rises to a breeze (Pittulie).


XIII.-Frost.

If hoar frost, or "white frost", continues for two days, it commonly ends on the third day with foul weather.

"Three white frosts all in a row
Ends either in frost or snow",

is a Kincardineshire rhyme. It is looked upon as a forerunner of a breeze (Rosehearty).

The fishermen have a saying that frost "grips doon, or conquers, the ween and the sea" (general).


XIV.— Hills.

If distant hills are seen clearly, rain is not far off. When the hills on the north side of the Moray Firth are seen from the south side in Banff and Aberdeenshire, a change of weather is looked for within a short time (general).


XV.—Living Creatures.

The dog[1] eating grass, and the cat washing its face,[2] are indications of rain not far off (general, inland).

The "louper-dog" (the porpoise) plunging through the sea indicates approaching stormy weather (St. Comb's, Pittulie, etc.). It goes against the wind.

  1. D., pp. 29, 30, 31, under "Cats and Dogs".
  2. M., p. 20 (B.) (4). Biblioteca de las Tradiciones Españoles, vol. iv, pp. 87, 89.