The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1906-04-20
gelfrt Misrellany,
Animals Winter Sleep.

In the strict definition of tile word
there are very few mammals in Maine
..ch hiLernate, becoming SO lost IL
sleep as to he oblivious of what is 60
ing on around them. says the Bangor
News" Our raccoons and skunks
and bears crawl away TO hiding places
and seem to be torpid, though they
awaken and b, come active as soon as
their apartments are invaded by bu-
man foes
Twice we have seen bears uncover
ed from under fallen trees during very
I'D weather in midwinter, and in both
cases the animals were awake and on
the defensive as soon as the choppers
could oct at them. Raccoons do not
hibernate in the sense of becoming un
con Gus. They den mostly in trees
and logs, but let some one come along
and strike forcibly above their seclud
ed dens, and they are up and dressed
and ready to 6e as quickly as fam
iIy is when he fire alarm is sounded
at the front door.
During nearly every winter thaw.
bears, skunks and raccoons come out
ana walk about on the snow, at times
going miles away from their winter
quarters.
Our greedy little friend the chip
munk is not believed to sleep any
more hours in the winter than in the
summer. 1t puts by plentiful store
of food and performs Ii ght housekeep
ing in it's hole far below the frost. So
far as anyone can learn the chipmunk
dwells alone in its underground den.
rhe old notion that the father and
mother chipmunk took their children
INTO winter Qualte and gave then
lie sens in stealing grain and gnawin.
holes in corn bins is tabrica' ion.
We have talked with scores of mel.
who have been close observers Of chip
munks for years, and as yet we have
found none who ever saw two chip
munks dwelling in the same compart
ment. Skunks, however, are very 50
cial in their winter habits. One win
ter when a barn in Waldo county
burned down the charred bodies OF
Of eight skunks were taken from the
ashes and rubbish left from the blaze
Raccoons have small objections to re-
ceiving sleeping partners in hollow
trees, though bears seem to be morose
and solitary brutss, which have no
liking Tor their kind.
But the weodchuck sleeps soundly
enough to make up for all the wakeful
and half wakeful creatures. Boys who
have stored tame oodchucks in bar
rels in the cellar to pass the winter
have taken the torpid animals and car
lied them miles in their arms without
breaking in upon their sleep. A fat
woodchuck in early winter may be
brought from its nest and placed by
the side of a warm stove for half an
hour without making any app; rent
change in it's conduct.
But when a slumbering woodchuck
is warmed and rubbed until it is fully
awake it is about the most disagreea-
BILE beast'living. Though it has been
as tame as a pet kitten when put away,
it will "snicker" and gnash its teeth
and show many signs of displeasure if
aroused from its long sleep before it
has burned up its surplus tat by respi-
ration.
1t requires long hunting and much
patience..to find slumbering bat in
midwinter. The animals are so small
that they can hide in most any crevice,
and their color is 80 subdued that un.
less one is looking for them be can
never find them. Tue general i'm
preston is that bats hibernate from