248 THE INVITATION. 



some approaching danger. Time after time the cav- 

 ity was filled and refilled, with blue and brown inter- 

 mingled, and as often emptied. Presently they tar- 

 ried longer than usual, when I made a sudden sally 

 and captured three, that found a warmer and safer 

 lodging for the night in the cellar. 



In the fall, birds and fowls of all kinds become 

 very fat. The squirrels and mice lay by a supply of 

 food in their dens and retreats, but the birds, to a 

 considerable extent, especially our winter residents, 

 carry an equivalent in their own systems, in the form 

 of adipose tissue. I killed a red-shouldered hawk, 

 one December, and on removing the skin found the 

 body completely encased in a coating of fat one quar- 

 ter of an inch in thickness. Not a particle of mus- 

 cle was visible. This coating not only serves as a 

 protection against the cold, but supplies the waste of 

 the system, when food is scarce, or fails altogether. 



The crows at this season are in the same condition. 

 It is estimated that a crow needs at least half a pound 

 of meat per 'day, but it is evident that for weeks and 

 months during the winter and spring, they must sub- 

 sist on a mere fraction of this amount. I have no 

 doubt a crow or hawk, when in .their fall condition, 

 would live two weeks without a morsel of food pass- 

 ing their beaks ; a domestic fowl will do as much. 

 One January, I unwittingly shut a hen under the 

 tloor of an out-building, where not a particle of food 

 could be obtained, and where she was entirely unpro- 

 tected from the severe cold. When the luckiest 



