Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-02-15
ANIMALS IN WINTER
HOW THEIR INsTaScX NITIGArEs
THEIR HARDsATPs.
Their Method Of Seeking Food and
the way In Which They
Avoid I'd e.,yx.

Bitterly cold days, oeerhuhg with a light
mist that yauishes at -aoon,-but in the dusk
of morning and evening floats like a dim
blue Aim. over the red sum- hnd still colder
n,rhts. bathed In unnatnraf brightness by
the moon and stars, have succeeded the
rainy weather that accompanied the ad-
vent of winter. Hardened by successive
frosts. the snow He's thick on the fields
Since the fall Of the f1aky showers the heat
OF the day has sufficed to melt from the
boughs their jeweled incrustations; out
along the northern side OF the: hedgerows
and the margins Of the woods the drifts
are now almost as deep as Immediately
after the storm. All the broad pools OF the
river are icebound. 70 the fast-nowing
trout reach below the bathing pool an otter
comes every day at noon to fish the stretch
beneath the cottage gardens. II only the
watcher remain motionless and silent, the
creature continues sys.sa.,G search ; trom
at the surface when 1t rises to breathe.
Forced by hunger to abandon many OF ITS
wild ways the otter Is sometimes seen at
night in the lane at the end Of the village,
whence 1t Is chased back to the river by
any wandering terrier which may chance to
cross it's path. Its favor1te resorts are the
refuse heaps in the gardens and beyond the
high wall built as breakwater against the
river floods. During l&1g-continued hard
weather every fish in the river apparently
vanishes. The trout are there, however,
though not visible. They. have forsaken the
streams for the still pools, where the tenn
perature beneath the ice Is not so variable
as in the open water among the rapids.
otter Hard Up for Food.
The otter, unable, because Of the ice, to
drive the trout from their hiding places at
the bottom of the deep pits they frequent.
is forced to feed on anything 1T may find
in the streams-an occasional "kelt' SAL
mon, or salmon pink or a stray morsel
from the cottagers' kitchens-and finds the
bill of fare scanty one. Yet fortune some
times fayors it. A half-pound fish, chased
by a cannibal Of its own tribe, Will now ana
then drop down from the hollow Of the pool
to the shadows, where the Ice becomes
thin and at last disappears on the edge OF
the rapids Here II anywhere, stray
blue dun Is to be found lettering at the
surface in the brief sunlight of the winter
noon. The trout know this and Turk among
the ripples for half an hour in the warmest
time of the day. The otter learned in all
the ways Of its prey. and having forsaken
it's nocturnal habits. spends most. of Its
time on the lookout Tor rowing fSh by the
fringe of the ice. -.''f $50
Around the trunks of the willows that
grow by the river are cleared spaces where
the water voles have scratched away the
snow In their quest for food. Under the
trees the ground thaws more rapidly than
elsewhere; the latent heat in the trees
themselves Is. in part. the cause of this.
Finding the earth comparatively sole close
by the willows, the voles have here and
there dug a shallow trench that they may
obtain a frugal meal of grass roots and
reeds They timid little creatures;
their burrows by the Waterside are like
miniature dwelling places of the otter. one
entrance opening on The; top Of the bank
and the other below stheJsurface of the
stream. In summer the vOes are rarely
seen by day, but wheH)darKness falls they
CIT t,yitb thair far lipC tbn
the margin of the river At the slightest
disturbance they drop into 1.-THE water and
enter their burrows by the hidden passages
Like the otter, they are night feeders. But
hard frost causes, change In their hab-
its; they now take full advantage of the
warmth of noon. n the least thaw the
voles must work bard. II life is to be kept
aflame. Perhaps only Yor a little while in
the day can the hungry creatures have
easy access to the Sueculent shoots Of
water plants ana gra sses which form their
simple Diet and then IN pertain unfre-
quented places they throng the river bank
None but the student Of nature. Recognizes
how marked is the change in the life of
the fields after a week Of uninterrupted
frost. An unforeseen catastrophe has be-
fallen the weaklingS of natures flock. No
sufficient provision has been made to meet
the sudden cruelty with which an erstwhile
bountiful hand turns the key that closes
the storehouse door. Disinherited and for
lorn, the wild wanderers by wood and
hedgerow exc out bitter existence in
mute appeal against the inexorable fate
which has driven them forth upon the
bleak face OF barren world. When the
mildness OF our climate is rudely disturbed
by piercing east and northeast winds sue
ceedlng fall Of snow the conditions of life
In our temperate ATTITUDES are similar to
nose existing In arctic regions. But the
habits OF our wild creatures are different
Along lines OF migration known for ages.
arctic birds and animals move southwark
IN the DUSK OF the darkening winter night.
Of fhAtr
they die by thousands. They for some I'M
accountable reason seem disinclined to
journey further south.
They Die by Thousands. @
-oVertaken by unexpected severity of
weather, redwfngs and fieldfares die In
thousands from privation and cold. One
morning IN recent winter thirtythree Of
these birds were picked up dead on a small
farm of forty acres. Even our native birds
suffer greatly from any unusual continu-
ance of cold. Wood pigeons, among the
nardlest OF forest jewellers, collect in large
1ocks and associate with the stronger
beaked rocks. The sable legions fly from
held to field and by unremitting labor
among the furrows-labor directed by
shreWdness and intelligence-manage in
places TO tear up the ground and obtain
the -necessaries Of life. The cushats watch
the resourceful rocks, and in the fresh
turned earth find here and there some well
Cofhe hofSei rejected by their companions.
But the wood pigeon is no longer the
plump, feet-winged bird that filed the
summer wood with soft and ceaseless COO
ing. Wasted by privation to mere bag
of bones covered with feathers, 1t .wearily
wings Its way to the home meadows, nnd
there alights to pick meal from the tur-
nips provided by, the farmer for his hungry
sheep. By the river SIDE the water vole,
as well as the pigeon, discovers In the
ubiquitous rock a friend The rock is q
keen entomologist. Ponderous books would
not suffice to contain all the knowledge OF
insect life possessed by the tribe father of
the rookery on the hill. In the mysteries
Of pupa digging our college professors are
as novices compared with the .ploughboy's
black attendant. Every tree In summer
sheltered amid its leaves hundred little
| families Of promising caterpillars destined.
If fate were propitioustito develop into deli
cate. soft-winged netAsy oWhen. autumn
came these caterpflarsI spun their robes of
silk and passed into the 1thtfd. the sleeping.
stage of their existence With the fall Of
the leaf they dropped to the ground. Some,
| however, when about !to'Lsleep, crawled
down the trunk and burroSed in the warm
soil at the roots before putting on their
garments Of "chitine. Allethis is known to
the observant rock. Tin The thaw Of the
winter noon the wise bird comes to the
foot Of the tree jietJSheueath the snow