144 THE EFFECT OF HEAT ON ANIMALS 



special treatment. Cases of human sunstroke had been 

 dropping in at the hospitals all the morning, and he 

 was not surprised to find both a tiger and a leopard in 

 a fit, and almost insensible. But the polar bear had 

 left its inner cage, and stretched itself flat on the hot 

 stones, where it could enjoy to the full the excessive 

 heat of the North German midsummer. 



All birds seem to enjoy the heat, provided that they 

 can obtain water, which in this country is never wanting 

 except on the chalk downs when the ponds dry up. 

 There the rooks wait till dusk round the troughs from 

 which the sheep are watered, evidently suffering acutely 

 from thirst. But pigeons will seek out the hottest 

 slopes and angles of the roofs ; and common roadside 

 birds, such as the yellow-hammers and pipits, sit out 

 in the sun all day. Most of the insect-eating birds, 

 except the fly-catchers, retire to the trees and bushes, 

 and both chickens and partridges purposely seek shade. 

 The former, if no other cover is available, will lie in 

 the shadow of a wall, creeping close up to it as the 

 line of shade narrows towards mid-day. Partridges 

 either lie under the hedges or move into the turnip- 

 fields when, as in hot September weather, the leaves 

 are broad enough to cover them. But our wild birds 

 never suffer from heat like those of Australia, where 

 the parrots and lories have been seen to drop down 

 dead when forced to fly across the open ground in a 

 summer drought. 





