XXIV 



THE STORING INSTINCT 



THERE are various ways in which animals 

 meet or circumvent impending seasonal 

 scarcity. Many go into winter quarters, and, 

 reducing their expenditure to a minimum, lie low 

 till the spring calls them again to action. Others, 

 like the wolves, continue to live dangerously, and 

 simply intensify the keenness of their hunting. 

 Some, like the ermine and the ptarmigan, don a 

 white dress, which is not criffly physiologically best 

 for warm-blooded creatures in very cold weather, 

 but gives them a garment of invisibility against the 

 background of snow. Others solve the problem 

 by a change of habitat notably the migratory 

 birds, which come from the snow-covered moors 

 to the open shore and the fields adjacent, or " wing 

 their way from cloud to cloud down the long wind " 

 to " warmer lands and coasts that keep the sun." 

 There are several other solutions of the problem 

 to curl up and die is to decline to consider it 

 and one of these is to lay up stores, to hoard, to 

 save. Many animals do this inside their bodies, 

 and what are called " hibernating glands " and the 

 like are internal stores for the evil day, but we 

 shall confine our attention to external savings. 



183 



