The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1905-01-02
Animals Feel
Coming Winter

ance with the squirrels you can easily
detect whether they are making an
elaborate and hurried preparation-a
sign of a cold and early winter-or
slowly and Iistlessly preparing their
winter beds, which is regarded as a
sign of mild or "open" winter.
When in the early fall nearly every
squirrel you meet is carrying big
bundle OF the fiDers of cedar bark for
bedding, and is working with an en-
ergy that seems to show that he feels
he will very shortly need every scrap
he can get together to keep himself
warm, then, as MY old hunter re-
marked, "the pine squirrel says We
are going to have early snow and lots
of it, and a cold, hard winter"
But if, on the other haud, be gath
ers his bedding slowly and little at a
time, just as he feels the need of It,.
and seems to say by his manner;
Last night I slept a little chilly;
guess l had better have another COW
erlet"; that is understood to be sign
of moderate winter.
After the pine squirrel, the part
ridge, or ruffled grouse, is honored as
a weather prophet. When in the fall
the hollow boom of the partridges
drumming is heard in the thickets
bordering on the clearings, the woods
wise old-timers will tell you 1t is a
sign that tells of mild winter or at
least long, warm fall season. The
partridge is drumming, they say, be-
cause he is happy and he is happy
because he knows 1t is going to be a
mild winter. If you find a partridge
with feathers on his legs and feet il
Is a sign of a severe winter. The in
ference is that the wise partridge,
knowing it would be cold, ordered a
pair of leggings along with his winter
suit. My chief objection to this sign
is that so few Get the information in
time to get their leggings. Partridges
with befeathered feet are always very
rare, and the rest of the poor things
must suffer with cold shanks.
The woods rabbit is also considered
b weather-wise fellow. One of his
thief projections against his keen
Eyed enemies is the harmonious
changing of the color of his coat. In
slmmer he is dead-leaf brown; in win
Ter he is almost snow-white. But If.
then the first early snow covers the
kround, the rabbit is observed still
Elothed in brown, or wearing a coat
Df mixed brown and white, the OBJ
server believes that the snow will
loon melt away and leave bare
ground. And when the rabbit appears
Ii white in early fall it is considered
a sign of deep and lasting fall of
snow, and that very soon.
For some the loon foretells the com
ng Of winter. An old trapper once
said to me: when the loon leaves
It's time to be ready for winter The
oon loves so we'll his summer haunts
IN the northern inland waters that
le delays his trip south until the last
uoment The mercury may take a
ludden drop; snow may fall in blind
ng clouds; but if through the whirl-
ng, spectral whiteness the wild, trem-
lous call of the loon comes to your
iars be assured that the storm will
lot be severe. Before the icy grip of
winter closes in earnest over forest
md lake the knowing loon will be
veil away on his journey toward the
outh.
Another sign to which trappers pay
.ttention is the fall house-building OF
he beaver and the muskrat These
wo fur-bearing animals, although diff
ering widely in structure and habits,
juild themselves winter quarters quite
similar in material and construction.
On the edge of their favorite stream
they construct mound Of mud and
sedge, with chambers in the center,
in which, when the ground is frozen
solid, the occupants are almost as Sc
cure as If they were incased in block
of granite When these winter houses
are especially large, denoting an un
usual thickness of the outer walls, il
is said to be a sign of hard winter
the builders having made their wall
extra thick to keep out the cold. Il
the houses are built on higher ground
than usual and farther away from the
waters edge, it is taken as sign that
there will be extraordinarily high
water the following spring.
Still another sign which old hunters
Dften mention concerns insects in
stead of animals. When the hornets
nest hangs high in the bush they say
It is going to be a severe winter, fol
the hornets have hung their nest Sc
high to keep 1t above the SNOW. Wher
he nest hangs low it will be an opeI
ginter. can youch for this sign go
ng wrong once. A cold, rough winter
followed fail when I noticed tha
BE hornets nest hung low.
Indeed, the signs are not always
afallible. Once asked a man local.,
.amous for his experience and wood
craft his opinion of the approaching
winter, and all his predictions provet
to be faulty. The next spring when
took him to task he replied that dur
ing his long experience he had oh
served that there were occasional sea
sons when all signs failed.
But although the signs may some
times 60 wrong, there is plenty of ey
idence seeming to prove that the ami