THE SUMMIT OF THE YEARS 



must have a store of food in their dens, as does the 

 chipmunk, or else be more or less active in their 

 search all winter, as is the case with the red and 

 gray squirrels. The fox puts on more or less fat 

 in the fall, because he will need it before spring. His 

 food-supply is very precarious ; he may go many days 

 without a morsel. I have known him to be so hungry 

 that he would eat frozen apples and corn which he 

 could not digest. The hare and the rabbit, on the 

 other hand, do not store up fat against a time of 

 need; their food-supply of bark and twigs is constant, 

 no matter how deep the snows. The birds of prey 

 that pass the winter in the north take on a coat of 

 fat in the fall, because their food-supply is so uncer- 

 tain; the coat of fat is also a protection against the 

 cold. 



Of course, all the wild creatures are in better 

 condition in the fall than in the spring, but in 

 many cases the fat is distinctly a substitute for 

 food. 



The skunk is in his den also from December till 

 February, living on his own fat. Several of them 

 often occupy the same den and conserve their animal 

 heat in that way. The coon, also, is in his den in the 

 rocks for a part of the winter, keeping warm on 

 home-made fuel. The same is true of the bear in 

 our climate. The bats are hibernating in the rocks 

 or about buildings. The muskrats are leading hidden 

 lives in the upper chambers of their snow-covered 



