HIBERNATION. I9 



under consideration. Candlemas, or the second day of Febru- 

 ary, is awaited by the countryside with expectation. The story 

 goes that on such date the giound hog comes into the open to 

 take observations on the weather. If the day be clear and the 

 sun casts a shadow, the observer, in anticipation of a severe 

 season, returns for six weeks more of slumber. On the other 

 hand, if no shadow can be seen, the marmot confidently starts 

 on a renewed round of activity. Such a legend has no foun- 

 dation in fact. That the animal may be above ground at the 

 time mentioned, during mild weather, is very probable. But 

 that this is a fixed rule of life, or that the future can be read, 

 is altogether another matter. Such a belief ranks with that 

 in Walpurgis Nacht, in the Hartz district, and both may be 

 included in the Phoenix-like maze of other superstitions 

 which has come down to us, the heritage of by-gone days. 



After the first few killing frosts the jumping mouse retires 

 to some snugly prepared corner, where he curls up in a spheri- 

 cal nest of leaves and grasses until the cold has departed. 

 In this latitude the hiding place generally seems to be placed 

 far enough beneath the ground to escape freezing. No food 

 provision appears to be made for Winter, as with the chip- 

 munk. Really, the mice would be helpless to use it, as a 

 freezing temperature soon begins to stupefy them. Abbot, on 

 the contrary, states that this species seems to store up chinqua- 

 pins in November. The animals can be thawed and frozen 

 several times artificially before they succumb to such inhuman 

 treatment. When going into Winter quarters the mice are 

 excessively fat, but by Spring the adipose tissue is nearly gone. 



During the hibernation of animals the temperature of their 

 bodies falls to a point corresponding nearly to that of the sur- 

 rounding atmosphere. In this condition they may for a con- 

 siderable time be placed in carbon dioxide or under water, 

 though they would die in a very few minutes if they were in 

 their normal state. 



Birds, by nature fitted for extensive migration, can readily 

 follow the supply of food stuffs, and are not put to the neces- 



