PEPACTON 



out, by making the termination of the hole higher 

 than the entrance. He digs in slantingly for about 

 two or three feet, then makes a sharp upward turn 

 and keeps nearly parallel with the surface of the 

 ground for a distance of eight or ten feet farther, 

 according to the grade. Here he makes his nest 

 and passes the winter, holing up in October or 

 November and coming out again in April. This is 

 a long sleep, and is rendered possible only by the 

 amount of fat with which the system has become 

 stored during the summer. The fire of life still 

 burns, but very faintly and slowly, as with the 

 draughts all closed and the ashes heaped up. Respi- 

 ration is continued, but at longer intervals, and all 

 the vital processes are nearly at a standstill. Dig 

 one out during hibernation (Audubon did so), and 

 you find it a mere inanimate ball, that suffers itself 

 to be moved and rolled about without showing 

 signs of awakening. But bring it in by the fire, 

 and it presently unrolls and opens its eyes, and 

 crawls feebly about, and if left to itself will seek 

 some dark hole or corner, roll itself up again, and 

 resume its former condition. 



A GOOD SEASON FOR THE BIRDS 



The season of 1880 seems to have been excep- 

 tionally favorable to the birds. The warm, early 

 spring, the absence of April snows and of long, 

 cold rains in May and June, indeed, the excep- 

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