The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-03-11
ANIMALS IN WET WEATHER.
Their Habits and Instincts N Regard TO
SheIterIng Themselves.

|
Their Habits and Instincts IN Regard TO
SheItering Themselves.
The reluctance with which most hui
man beings face voluntary exposure to
such (wet) weather will account for our
very limited knowledge of the shifts
and devices by which our wild animals
endeavor to avoid the worst discomforts
which it brings. But those who are
bold enough to go forth in all weathers
| know by experience that in all but tie
most open countries there are generally
| to be found some cosey corners to which
| the rain does not penetrate, or which,
even if not dry, are sheltered from the
direct access of the driving drops
Animals, birds especially, while
| showing the utmost dislike to endure
the storm, are by no means SO clever in
the use of such natural shelters as
might be supposed. Hares, as rule,
leave the open country and seek shell
ter in the woods; and stupid as they are
in circumstances new to their expert
ence, as when suddenly chased, or in
avoiding snares and traps, they show
considerable ingenuity in securing their
comfort They nearly always make a
form near, but not touching, the trunk
OF some large tree. Thus, while securing
the shelter Of the stem and overhanging
limbs, they avoid the water which drains
down TO the main column and forms, as
any one may see by looking at the foot
OF large timber tree in a meadow,
tiny canal at the base of the trunk.
The writer has sometimes seen hares,
not lying in their form, but sitting up
in such places, just as laborer shell.
tiers behind haYstack. Where there
are no woodlands they creep under the
irregular overhanging cornice made by
the crumbling away of the mold be-
meath the roots in the hedge banks and
there scratch out snug and dry re-
treat.
Rabbits usually keep under ground
in their burrows, only coming out to
feed, unless their holes are flooded, as
often happens after a long course of
wet They then leave the warren alto
getber, and lie out among the turnips,
or even on the open stubbles. huddled
up into the smallest possible space, as.
if they had lost all faith in the posi-
bility Of finding further shelter. Rats
have the strongest possible dislike to
damp, and on the first approach of
settled wet swarm into the stacks and |
farm buildings. Those which spend
their lives along the banks of rivers
and broolzs-a semi-aquatic breed of
land rats which resemble the
true water rats in all but
their vegetarian diet-have a sim
pie and clever resource for wet
weather. They leave their holes IN the
banks and go up into the crowns of
the pollard willows which fringe the
streams and line the hedges; in these
they find warm, dry, and well-drained
winter lodgings, safe even in flood time;
for their powers of swimming enable |
them to shift from tree to tree, and the |
swarms of snails and insects which |
shelter in the hollow trunks provide |
them with food for rainy day."
Foxes often lie in these large hollow |
pollards during very wet weather; and |
the writer has seen an otter slip from |
the crown of one of them into the Cher |
well during an autumn food But |
foxes more often prefer to lie still for
hours curled up in the high grass and |
brambles in some thick double-fence,
or dry furze-brake. Some times, in |
heavy rain, they are SO reluctant to
leave their dry quarters that they do
not move until their disturber is close
upon them; and the comical, half-re-
luctant, and wholly sulky look of an
old dog-fox, as he stands hesitating be-
tween prudence and comfort, should APP
peal to the most unsympa thetic sports
man.
Horses and cattle never look so mis-
cradle as when standing exposed to
cold and driving rain. Every field in
which cattle are turned loose should
have some rude shelter provided, how
ever rough and hardy the stock. If left
to themselves in a state of nature, they
would travel miles to some bank or
which would at least give cover
against the wind. Shut up between
four hedges, they are denied alike the
aid of human forethought and of their
own instinct Bewick's vignettes of old
horses or unhappy donkeys, huddled
together in driving showers on some
bleak common, express vast amount
Of animal misery in an inch of woodcut-
1t seems strange that no animal, unless
it be the squirrel, seems to build itself
a shelter with the express object of
keeping off the rain, which they ali SO
much dislike Monkeys are miserable
in wet, and could easily build shelters,
# they had the sense 10 do so ''As the
creatures hop disconsolately along in
the rain" writes Mr.. Kipling, in his
Beast aud Man in India" ''or crouch
on branches, with dripping backs set
against the tree-trunk as shelter from
a driving storm, they have the air of
being very sorry for themselves" But
even the ourang-outang, which builds a
small platform in the trees on which to
:leep at night, never seems to think of
! roof, though the Dyaks say that when
t is very wet 1t covers itself with the
caves OF the pandanus, large fern.
Birds, some OF which carefully |
'oof in the nests in which they |
ear their young, and even, as
n the case of the swallow, choose
orne existing roof, such as the caves OF |
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