BIRD PARADISE 247 



company. Blue jay in the winter is really a very 

 attractive companion. 



Quite a number of the inhabitants of our hill 

 country have gone into winter quarters. From 

 what I see I judge that the process is an easy one 

 — simply going to sleep, having first found the 

 right place. The insects perhaps — the greater 

 portion of them — are always in the right place. 

 The stroke of cold comes and the rubicon is crossed 

 without any thought or even slightest sign of 

 preparation. If the weather be favorable the lit- 

 tle fellows may wake and sleep a dozen times 

 during the winter without any particular harm 

 ensuing. The earthworms have a sort of pre- 

 sentiment of what is coming and take refuge in 

 the lower rooms of their large mansion. The ants 

 and grubs, toads and frogs close the outside doors 

 of their various houses and drop off to sleep with 

 no thought troubling them as to when or how 

 awakening may come. The woodchuck retires 

 to the deepest part of his underground cottage 

 and even before the cold and snow arrive has for- 

 gotten life and all its cares. Two or three times 

 I remember seeing the bat in full position for the 

 winter's campaign. One might readily think 



