The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1901-07-17
LONG WINTER MAPS.
WAYS IN WHICH VARIOUS ANIMALS
SPEND THE COLD WEATHER.

hn1SrnntS WIN WOnuerIul IN
stinct For Self Preservation.
The devices Of animal life to bridge
over the winter season and their ways
and habits during this time present an in
teresting, indeed fascinating, page Of ma
ture, writes Charles Frederick Holder.
At the approach OF winter animals are
affected in various ways. In the north
all the reptles-snakes, lizards, frogs
and toads, vast oncourse-disappear In
a most miraculous manner. The snakes
enter holes and crevices, projecting them
selves as far into the earth as possible,
and, coiled tightly, assume a condition, a
state of coma in which they remain until
the heat of the sun comes to waken
them the following spring, when they APP
pear voracious and eager for prey to re-
habilitate them physically after months
of fasting. The frogs plunge down into
the mud of the ponds where they have
made music during the long summer, and
the same is true of turtles. Lizards af-
feet the same places as snakes and when
taken out at tins time are apparently life
less.
This is the case with the reptiles of
the eastern and middle states or WHEREBY
CT there Is n toiu NluleTs ice anu SHOW.
But on the Pacific slope, in southern Cal
ifornia, in the same latitude as the above,
a different condition holds. Here-and
the San Gabriel valley may be taken as
an example-the lizards are subjected to
a winter and summer every "a hours.
There is no snow, the days are bright
I and beautiful, resembling a cool eastern
summer, and insect life does not dsap-
pear. All winter l have found lizards
basking IN the sun on these bright days,
but as the winter day wears on and 4
| o'clock approaches there is a very mate
rial change-a strange chill that affects
reptilian life at once. 1t Is their winter,
and just as the eastern lizard creeps
down into the earth for shelter and en-
tiers its winter sleep, so this California
lizard crawls out of sight beneath rocks,
into crevices or under the bark of trees
and enters what is the equivalent of a
state Of coma. 1t seems to shrivel be-
comes seemingly intensely cold, often
stretches out its entire length and lies, to
all intents and purposes dead and life
less, in this way passing the night until
0 or 10 o'clock In the morning, when the
rays of the sun slowly bring it back to
life.
This curious night coma is, so far as
appearances go, identical with the winter
sleep of eastern lizards. The functions
are in allegiance for the time and life is
at its lowest ebb. In observing these
sleepers / have found them by turning
over the piles of stones early In the morn
ing and have often found n row of them,
limp, cold and apparently dead, lying In
the sun, to watch the gradual return to
life. 1t came very gradually, those liz
ards placed on their backs first showing
signs of life by a quivering of the limbs,
which were then drawn up. Then the
long tail would move, and finally the little
sleeper would clumsily roll over into an
upright position, and as the direct rays
OF the sun struck and warmed II into life
its eyes would grow brighter, and sud-
denly, as IL touched by some magic wand,
Its head would be lifted high, the
blue breastplate cleaned in the light,
and with an air of establishment and
alarm this sleeper, awakened, would dash
over the ground and escape, once more a
living creature, a type of activity, a
menace to insect life Every night in the
/ California winter this occurs, and the
condition can easily be superinduced by
subjecting the animals to artificial cold.
The bears in southern California are
found abroad at all times, while in the
northern part of the state and in the east
they enter into q complete state Of hi
bernation, going into their winter sleep
well conditioned and fat, evidently living
on the latter until spring when they
emerge lean and ugly.
The change In color Of animals at the
approach of the winter season Is one of
the remarkable features Of life. The
ermine, as an example and several 9th
~ Huhifa tho phopUp bn-
Ing q protective feature. The ptarmigan
has n similar habit, a change which rem
ders it inconspicuous to its various en-
emies.
At the approach of winter the birds,
perhaps, present the most remarkable
spectacle With some few exceptions
they move away from the conditions
which threatened them, and in what is
popularity called the departure and return
of the birds we contemplate wonderful
migration, in which the highest instinct
OF self preservation appears to have been
developed. The birds of the coast have
definite line of migration; the shore line
at this time constitutes a bird highway,
over which tens of thousands are passing
in the autumn to the south, where there
Is a food supply; in the spring to the
north, to the fields they know so well,
and the nesting places Wnefe the young
are to be raised. Much of this migration
ia carried on at night high in air, and
during storms myrlads of birds are often
confused and killed by dashing blindly
into the lighthouses that mark the high
way.
On the Pacific coast the coast range
and Sierra Nevada mountains constitute
we'll defined line of travel. In southern
California the flight Of cranes and geese
along this pathway Is a remarkable sight.
The birds, especially the cranes, cover
long distances by soaring, gradually
reaching within rife shot of the ground,
then they stop and begin a spiral move
ment, turning in graceful curves, flash
ing like silver dollars in the sunlight as
they turn and disappear, rising ever high
err until they are a mile or more above
the valley, or above the summit of the
Sierra Madre; then, as though at the
command of the leader, they turn. and in
long lines soar away with remarkable
velocity, literally sliding down the hill,
covering six or eight miles or more be-