The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1898-01-28

gy, rs its blow holes in the snow proves
holes melted in the snow beneath
which the animal frequently slows it
self away, under covering of leaves
which holes frequently betray it's pres
ence to the woodslnan.
"The marmot family produces the
soundest winter sleepers. When the
marmot is in it's peculiar state of hii, l..
nation the electric spark will not rouse
it. The nest noxious gases do not af
feet it in the slightest. If its tempera.
ture is raised above that at which the
animal breathed in it's natural state it
will die almost Immediately. This is
on the authority of the late Prof. Peter
A. Browne, who at one time was con-
nected with Lafayette college, and in
vestigated the subject of Information
and estivation further than any scien-
tist that know of.
; The hamster, rodent common in
Northern Germany, is another animal
that has its peculiarities as hiberna-
tor. Professor Browne mentions a
hamster that was put into box which
was closed with earth and straw and
placed here the cold was intense, but
the hamster did not show any sign of
becoming torpid. The box was then
buried in the ground and was dug up
after some hours, when the animal was
found in state of the most profound
lethargy. And this hamster was kept
in room where there was no fire.
The animal rolled itself up in corner,
but presently woke up and came out.
1t was in the best of health, but died
in few days-'sutfocated, Professor
Browne declared, because it could not
have confined air!'
"Our own familiar wild animals, the
bear, the raccoon and the woodchuck
tho ground hog Of colloquial nomen-
clature-are classed as perfect hiberna-
tors because they store no food for win
ter, but have acquired thick, fatty
secretion between the skin and flesh,
which, it is supposed, supplies them
with sustenance. As matter of fact,
although dormant animals absorb fat,
it does not enter into their digestive
organs. The same fat absorption oc-
ours when the animal is dead If YOU
kill a rabbit, or any other animal, and
leave the entrails in it the fat will dis
appear in a short time. Remove the
entrails and the fat will remain Food
introduced into the stomach of hiber-
mating animal or reptile will be found
undigested at all stages OF its lethargy.
l say introduced into the stomach,
because it could get into the stomach of
such creature only by force or artili-
cial animals, for a alternating animal
invariably goes into its peculiar state on
an empty stomach. Why,I do not know.
That is one of the mysteries OF the
phenomenon. But the most myste-
rious of all things connected with hi
bernating animals is that, although
bears and woodchucks are profound hi
bernators, they produce their young
during their winter sleep.
The woodchuck is undoubtedly a
perfect hibernator, and the female bear
IS, but the male bear is frequently
reused from his winter sleep, and is
found roaming about in midwinter. \
bear hunt when the snow is deep and
the cold intense is not an uncommon
relief to the monotony of life in the
backwoods. but the hunted bear is i'll
variably male. l have talked with
scores of old and observant woodsmen,
versed in the ways and haunts of wild
beasts, but none has ever been able to
say yet that he ever knew female
bear to be killed after the season for
Information has come, and none has
ever yet seen gravid female bear.
Where do the females go during that
time, that they are never disturbed in
their retreatsy No one can say.
"The raccoon is often gregarious in
its alternating, and it may be for that
reason it not intrequently comes forth
from it's snug quarters in the hollow
tree and makes foraging trips about the
country-the warmth engendered by
the budding colony arousing one or
more of it's members from their lethar-
gv for the time. Woodchucks hiber-
nate in pairs, but | never knew one of
these proverbially sleepy creatures to
leave its hole until warm weather came
in spite of the alleged practice it has
of coming out invariably on the second
day of February to fix the weather for
the rest of the winter. took the
trouble once to dis into 4 woodchuch'
burrow on a Candlemas Day-and
warm, cloudy day it was; just such
day when the grounding is said to
come out of his hole and stay out. |
found two woodchucks in the burrow,
with no more sign of life about them
than if they had been shot and killed.
From all outward appearances could
have taken them out and had game
of foot ball with them without their
knowing it.
"Squirrels are only partial hiberna-
tors, from the fact that they work all
summer and fall storing great quanti-