El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-06
THE WINTER QUARTERS
OF SOME Wild CREATURES.

Did you ever try to discover what
becomes of all the wild creatures OF
the woods and fields in the winter
In summer time the wilderness is filled
with life, song and happiness. APP
parently the little people of the forest
stream and field have nothing to do
but pass away the time in search of
entertainment. Yet if you watch them
carefully you will discover that nearly
all of them are making every effort
to prepare q home and food for the
coming cold weather, or they are car
ing for their babies of the present or
the days to come. Mr.. Squirrel, who
chatters and romps near the cornfelds
or In the nut trees, has, you may be
sure, found a coy nook in hollow
tree and has lined 1t with soft grass.
And in the harvest season he and his
mate busy themselves burying pro-
visions in convenient places or storing
them away in decayed logs. When the
winter comes, the two frugal little ami
mails will curl close together in their
nest and sleep much of the time, occa-
sionally peeping out at the day to see
II the sun is shining or to learn if the
weather is warm enough to permit
them to romp about bit.
All the burrowing creatures line their
nests in the fall and, could you visit
the homes of the rabbit, the wood
chuck, the mole and the gopher, you
would find them comfortably housed
deep in the SOIL
Some Of the harder birds spend their
winters in the north instead Of migrat-
ing to warmer lands in the autumn.
Many blue jays, sparrows, crows, owls
and bush birds remain. In the warm
weather the birds never sleep In their
nests, excepting during the time that
their young are being Matched and
raised. Instead, they roost in dark
corners of clumps of bushes or close to
the trunks of trees. But in the winter
those that remain usually prepare win
ter quarters, building temporary nests
of grass, where they snuggle together
through cold nights and the coolest
days.
Along the Mississippi river the birds
resort in great numbers in the winter.
perhaps the most striking looking of
them all are the redheaded woodpeck-
ers. These big, bright birds, that bore
holes in living trees and hollow out
nesting places in dead ones, are as &c
tive in putting away winter provisions
as are the squirrels. They seem to
prefer the little acorns that fall from
the pin oaks in western Illinois. Their
method of storing these meaty morsels
lis very Interesting. If you get near a
pin oak that is shedding acornS, you
will be pretty certain to see a number
of "redheads" gathering them. First
the woodpecker shells the acorn and
separates the two portions that sur
round the life germ. Then, taking one
of the kernels in it's beak, it flies to a
tree trunk that Is covered |
with loose pieces of bark-say an old
hickory. Finding a Serviceable crevice. |
the woodpecker prizes the acorn kernel |
between the bark and the trunk and !
flies back for the other kernel. This |
is done time after time all day long. |
The result is that thousands of acorns |
are slowed away above the snow line |
and where the woodpeckers may easily |
find them in the winter. The accom-
panying illustration shows a redheaded |
at work putting away a
supply of acorns.
The soil provides winter refuge for
not only the animals and snakes that
are usually above ground in warm
weather, but hosts of insects burrow
in the earth and sleep through the
winter. The CHEEKY little cricket pre-
pares it's winter home under the long
grass in the shelter of a sidewalk or
q big rock and rests easily until spring
Many varieties of insects die at the
summers end, but leave their young
provided for against the cold. Out
among the skeletonlike weeds you may
find little spherical sacks of silk,
which, if opened, would discover to