Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1900-02-23

When the grip of Jack Frost tightens
on the land, and turns the soppy garden
beds and clayey plow lands TO iron, ten
der hearts are sorry for the song birds
whose delicate beaks cannot pierce the
frozen soil. And many imagine that all
wild creatures feel the bitter cold and
suffer alike.
But this is mistake. For many of
the furred, and some even of the feath-
cred, tribes the frost and snow have no
te1rors. The hawks grow fat in snow
time. The kestral finds the snow cap
ital background against which to view
the small fry he feeds on, while the
sparrow hawk scars over the clumps of
underbrush watching for the sparrows
as they slip in and out of shelter. All
the weasel tribe rejoice.
To none more than to the domestic
pussy does the cold bring joy. 1t is her
game season. Wild birds of many sorts,
IN the summer shy inhabitants of the
woodlands, swarm into suburban gar
dens, and prove easier prey than the
sparrow.
Dogs reyel Ia the clear, bright days
of frost. Even short-coated fox terri
ers never seem to feel the cold, but
scamper madly over the stiff grass. And
St Bernards lose their summer sleepi-
ness and roll delightedly in the pow
derry snow.
The short, dark winter days of Can
ada's great Northwest ho,d no terrors
for at least one creature. This is the
wolverine. an ugly, bear-like beast,
hated and feared by all the trappers.
Unseen himself he follows the hunters
and watches them as they set their
traps, which they do in long line ex-
tending sometimes as much as thirty
miles through the dense evergreen for
est These he visits before the gray
winter dawn has broken and takes
away the bait himself far too cunning
to risk capture. Or, if the trap already
holds captive, mink or ermine, this
too, he tears away and devours at
safe distance. Many are the stories told
of this, the greediest, most powerful
and suspicious creature of it's size
ylssown.
In the far north of the same vast SOL
'itudes the musk OK lives and fiolXishes
all the year around. Fifty below zero
does not. matter to this quaint animal,
with his immensely thick, furry coat
His sharp hoofs are suited to perfection
for scraping away the deep snow and
laying bare the thick lichen and moss
below it. Nothing but warmth worries
the little musk OK. Mere freezing point
is to him Turkish bath.
Another victim to warmth is the
llama, yet it lives in latitudes which
maps mark as tropical. 1t seeks a nice
colo place high on the windy tablelands
of the Andes, and there proves itself of
great value to the natives. Water and
food do not seem to worry the llama,
which carries its burden easily where
even mules pant with distress in the
thin atmosphere of tie giant noun
tains. The camel of the mountains, as
the llama is called, small as he is, will
carry load Of 100 pounls.
Dozens of different creatures happily
doze the winter away-Dars and bears,
dormice and many others. One of the
least known, and vet most interesting
of these. is the hamster. This little
brute is the most savage and unsocia-
BILE creature known. Each in separ-
ate hole far underground. the hamster
alternately sleeps on a couch of dry
grass. or wakes TO stuff himself almost
to bursting with the great store of corn
and beans he has laid up in his winter
larder. Winter is for him the season to
rest and grow fat.
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