208 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



feed near home, <c either, 5 ' says Gesner, " because 

 they are delighted with foreign food, or else because 

 they would exercise their legs in going ; or else, 

 by secret instinct of nature, to keep their forms 

 and lodging- places unknown*." Albertus Magnus, 

 on 'the other hand, says that hares feed only in the 

 night, because their heart and blood is cold, evi- 

 dently, in this case, speaking, as was heretofore 

 the custom, upon mere conjecture. 



Several animals, among those which do not become 

 torpid, provide no hay-lined cell as a snug retreat 

 from the cold, but contrive to prevent the dissipa- 

 tion of their animal heat by retreating under the 

 snow itself, taking ad vantage of the covering furnished 

 by Providence for the protection of vegetables. The 

 latter is beautifully illustrated, as it appears to us, 

 by what occurs in the cultivation of Alpine plants in 

 our gardens, many of which, such as auriculas, some 

 saxifrages, &c., are not unfrequently destroyed or 

 rendered unhealthy by our winters, whilst they 

 flourish amidst their native snow ; probably because 

 in the Alps, where they are growing wild, they 

 are throughout the winter covered with a complete 

 coating of snow, which, from not being a rapid 

 conductor of heat, is instrumental in the earth's not 

 parting quickly with its warmth, in the same manner 

 as woollen garments prevent the escape of heat from 

 the body ; this protects them through the cold sea- 

 son : whereas, in our climate, these plants are 

 exposed alternately to the severe influence of frost 

 (unprotected by the covering of snow), and to long- 

 continued rains. Even during the winter months 

 our plants frequently commence growing before the 

 spring arrives, and thus are rendered more obnoxious 

 to the succeeding frosts, and, besides this, the chief 

 strength of the plants (which should be reserved for 

 * Gesner, by Toplis, p. 209. 



