The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-20
SUDDEN COLD SNAP
 CATCHES ANIMALS
 AT ZOO UNAWARES
Haven't Had Time to Accus- tom Themselves to Cold Weather - Miss Fancy
 Prefers Her House

Did you ever live in the country? And did you ever get up just before day on a
 frosty morning, when the frost is on
 the pumpkin and the fodder's in the shock" and go out to the barn to feed the horses? If so, you probably noticed
 that Dobbin, whatever his name hap
 pened to be, was all scrooched up in the corner of his stall, with his head turned from the door and standing on three feet
 Well, that is the situation at the Avon-
 dale for the last two or three days
 All the animals are hunting place to
 keep out of the cold, even Miss Fancy,
 for despite her thick hide, she is trop-
 cal beast and unused to a raw climate.
 The animals have been singularly for
 tunate this year in the matter of cold weather, but they may be called upon to pay for it later on when the mercury
 goes down and the wind blows bleakly out
 of the north. You see they have not be- come accustomed to cold weather as yet this summer, have not learned to accom- modate themselves to low temperature gradually as they have in other winters when the weather was more seasonable Consequently when the cold snap comes, as come it will. it will find them more susceptible to cold than usual.
 1 Hundreds of little folks, and grown ups. too heard the call of the outdoors in the clear, biting, crisp cold yesterday and sought the ZOO to renew their acquaint-
 ance with friends of the summer. They found them In various stages of discom- fort, probably the most disconcerted be- ing Teddy, the bear
 Bears, you know, are accustomed to hibernating all winter where it is cold enough, and always on the approach of [fall they grow sleepy and prone to re- tire to the darkest corner of their den and remain there. With the unusually warm weather of November and Decem- Der Teddy has had no warning of com ing cold. Consequently the drop of the mercury caught him unprepared, and yes- terday he was not receiving visitors. The utmost coaXing could only induce him to stick out the tip of his nose from his cave and then retire rapidly in disgust The feathered folk of the zoo seemed to mind the cold less than any of the in mates. The eagles, imperturbable as usual, sat immobile on their perches, re- garding the spectators with the same far-seeing fierce gaze as of yore. Moth ing seems to move these birds, and at tendants at the zoo say that these kings of the air after years of captivity are still unsubdued. The waterfowl. too. didn't mind the weather and were kicking mer-
 rily about the lake, occasionally thrusting their heads under water to pull at the succulent subaqueous growth.
 Miss Fancy was tucked away snugly in
 her house on the hill, and she was sway
 ing and rumbling in rhythmic content swinging from side to side as do all ele-
 plants. The coyotes and wolves were re- tired to the far side of their cages while
 the monkeys all huddled up in a corner
 and refused to be coaxed out even by an
 old cob pipe which to a monkey is just
 about the finest plaything in the world
 But the children found plenty of this to
 look at, and went skylarking about over
 the hill at pace that set the blood rac-
 ing through their veins. But always they
 returned to the animals. and it was an
 illustration or the truth that animals, un-
 der different weather conditions, are diff
 ferent creatures. and one must learn
 to know them all over again.