Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1908-03-27
SHELTER FOR BIRD AND BEAST
A Robins Protection from Cold-Souir-
rels Comforter and Blanket.

The natural heat of a mans blood x
9S.4. That OF bird averages about
101. which is the temperature of tba
domestic fowl
For this reason many people suppose
that birds do not suffer from the cold
of winter. being also protected by tier.
thick coat of feathers but they d.
Birds and all the woodland folk feel
cold. and hard frost causes severe
suffering.
Birds are quite clever about seeking
shelter from the bite of a frosty night.
Run a bat fowIing net across The Sid,
OF a hayrick You will be amazed at the
extraordinary number and variety If
small birds which come huttering out
as soon as the lantern light strikes upon
the rick side.
Sparrows huddle together in tightly
packed masses. With them it is any
port in Il storm OF frost, and seven
We're once found, all III feather heap
dead in Il hole in the brickwork behind
a greenhouse furnace. In some way
/ fumes had leaked through the inter
stices of the masonry from the chimney
| behind and suffOcated the whole lot.
| Thick ivy is u favorite roosting place
| in cold weather. Of course there are
always plenty of birds who spend the
night in ivy, but in a heavy frost the
number doubles or trebles.
| The winter of 1S9495 was our last
really severe one. In February. 1885.
| Herefordshire farmer, visiting his out
| houses one night when the mercury lay
somewhere below the 20 mark, found a
| number of small birds, chaffinches ana
| sparrows, he thinks roosting in the COW
she'd, some actually Struggled down in
/ the straw close beside the big warm ami
| mails.
! ANY South Downs shepherd can tel
YOU that chaftinches and greenfncbes
| will spend cold nights nesting in the
| wool of the penIiad sheep. This is rath-
er dangerous proceeding for the poor
little chaps. for very often they get their
! claws tangled in the wool and when
morning arrives are unable to fly. If
no one comes TO their help they starve 10
death.
| Blaekbirds take refuge in low, close
growing evergreens and even occasional
! ly in holes in the ground. They have
| been found sheltering in rabbit burrows
! in very severe weather. The risk from
weasels or stoats must be considerable
! What was perhaps the oldest artifce
ever noticed on the part of Il bird in
search Of warmth was practiced by Il
robin. \ gentleman shooting in War
| wickShire covert on q very cold day had
| just killed rabbit and was walking 10
| pick it up when he saw a robin fiy
down from a tree and settle upon the
dead animal, crouching close to its still
| warm flesh.
| Afterward, when a number of rabbits
We're shot and laid under hedge, the
robin remained among them all the time
| the sportsman was eating his lunch
Squirrels put on a thicker coat IN
/ winter. This is duller in color than the
summer garb. Their tails also increase
vastly in business This means lot
in the way of warmth, for squirrels
tail is not only his rudder but his com
| forter and blanket also
Hedgehogs hnrrow deep into the
| leaves and debris, in the roots of thick
hedges, and hibernate there. In the
curious, trancelike state which we call
Information an animal feels no cold at
all.
The dormouse also hibernates, sleeping
snugly in a coy little nest made of IN
! terwoyen grass stalks. Pearsons
! Weekly