The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-03-03
ANIMALS WINTER SLEEP.

III lQG SlIlCI QGuQlllOu VI TUG WOlQ
there are very few mammals in Maine
which hibernate, becoming so lost in
sleep as to be oblivious of what is 60
ing on around them, says the Bangor
Meas. Our raccoons and skunks
and bears crawl away to hiding places
and seem to be torpid, though they
awaken and become active as soon as
their apartments are invaded by hui
man foes.
Twice we have seen bears uncover
ed from under fallen trees during
very cold weather in midwinter. and
in both cases the animals were awake
and on the defensive as soon as the
choppers could get at them. Rae
coons do not hibernate in the sense
of becoming unconscious. They den
up in hollow trees and logs, but let
some one come along and strike for
cibly above their secluded dens, and
they are up and dressed and ready to
flee as quickly as family is when the
fire alarm is sounded at the front door.
During nearly every winter thaw,
bears, skunks and raccoons come out
and 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
offood and performs light housekeep-
ing in its hole far below the frost.
So far as any one can learn the chip
munk dwells alone in its underground
den. The old notion that the father
and mother chipmunk took their
children into winter quarters and gave
them lessons in stealing grain and
gnawing holes in corn bins is fabri-
cation.
We have talked with scores of men
who have been close observers of
chipmunk for years, and as yet we
have found none who ever saw two
chipmunks dwelling in the same COM
partment. Skunks, however, are
very social in their winter habits.
One winter when a barn in Waldo
county burned down the charred
bodies OF eight skunks were taken
from the ashes and rubbish left from
the blaze. Raccoons have small OBJ
jections to receiving sleeping partners
in hollow trees, though bears seem
to be morose and solitary brutes,
which have no liking for their kind.
But the woodchuck sleeps soundly
enough to make up for all the wake
full and half-wakeful creatures. Boys
who have stored tame woodchucks in
barrels in the cellar to pass the win
ter have taken the torpid animals and
carried them miles in their arms with
out breaking in upon their sleep. A
fat woodchuck in early winter may
be brought from its nest and placed
by the side of warm stove for half
an hour without making any apparent
change in its conduct.
But when a slumbering woodchuck
is warmed and rubbed until it is fully
awake it is about the most disagreeable
beast living. Though it has been as
tame as pet kitten when put away,
it will Hsnicker" and gnash its teeth
and show many signs of displeasure
if aroused from its long sleep before
it has burned up its surplus fat by res
piration.
1t requires long hunting and much
patience to find slumbering bat in
midwinter. The animal are so small
that they can hide in most any Gre
vice, and their color is so subdued
that unless one is looking for them
he can never find them. The gener-
al impression is that bats hibernate
from October until April, as no one
sees them flying about during the
cold months.
Years ago we found seemingly
torpid bat concealed among wad of
hay in the mortice of beam in hay
barn. The season was winter, for
we remember there was snow on the
ground. 1t was cold weather, too, for
we took off thick woollen mitten as
cage for holding the bat until we
carried it to the house and installed
it as a pet. The reason why we nev-
er tanned and studied the habits of
that particular bat was because the
pestiferous little creature bit us
Sharply in the thumb as soon as we
touched its body, and before we were
over our great surprise at this imper-
tinent act the bat had fed from sight.
1t may be that bats assume sleep
that leads to Inconsistencies in win
ter, though the one we met assumed
nothing.
Nearly all reptiles-including frogs,
toads, snakes and turtles bury them
selves below frost in winter and re-
main sluggish and at times torpid un-
til spring. If a frog is dug from the
mud and placed in spring it will
swim away, though slowly at first.
The little nevis or salamanders
and the lizards, we are unable to say
concerning their habits. They are
reptiles, though the specimens found
here at the North are small enough
to be classed as insects. We have
dug both salamanders and lizards
from springs in winter and have
found them in full possession of their
faculties. We have left nevis out OF
doors in water in tin pail over night
and had them freeze as solid as ice
though when they thawed out they
did not show any i'll effects from frost
bites.
Frogs and toads can stand freezing
and thawing a few times, though the
experience seems to be wearing, "
as most of them succumb after re-
peated trials. Just how snakes pas:
the winter we do not know. Two OF
three specimens of the common strip
ed snake which we have dug from
stone heaps in the winter appeared
to be frozen and stiff, though nat
ural repugnance to the reptiles pre-
vented close observation.