110 THE WINTER REST. 



modify their structure or habits so far as to meet 

 the changed state of things ; and therefore not a 

 few giants of the previous age, such as the mam- 

 moth, the mastodon, the cave-bear, and the sabre- 

 toothed lion, died out utterly, leaving no descen- 

 dants. But a consider.ible number showed suffi- 

 cient plasticity of nature to survive into the newer 

 and colder era. It was as though one siiould 

 gradually pull down the walls of a hothouse, and 

 extinguish the fires, leaving the few stronger kinds 

 among its inmates to struggle on as best they 

 might in the cold, while the remainder perished 

 miserablv. The trees and shrubs for the most 

 part accepted the new rStjime by becoming decid- 

 uous, shedding their leaves annually at the 

 approach of winter ; though a few creepers and 

 bushes, like ivy, holly, and box, secured them- 

 selves rather from the January frosts by the adop- 

 tion of smooth and glossy foliage. Then for the 

 first time did the woods begin to display their 

 autumn glories of gold and crimson, and the 

 ground to be thickly covered in November weather 

 by the beautiful coating of russet-brown leaves. 

 As for the animals, they provided variously for 

 the altered circumstances. The birds, to whom 

 seas, straits, and rivers are no obstacles, saved 

 tliemselves in great part by migrating southward 

 during the worst rigors of winter ; while the four- 

 footed beasts, unable tlius to annihilate geograph- 



