XIX. WINTER ACTIVITIES OF WILD ANIMALS 
“Of all beasts he learned the language, 
Learned their names and all their secrets, 
How the beavers built their lodges, 
Where the squirrels hid their acorns, 
How the reindeer ran so swiftly, 
Why the rabbit was so timid, 
Talked with them whene’er he met them, 
Called them ‘Hiawatha’s brothers’.” 
—Longfellow (Hiawatha's Childhood). 
In winter, Nature puts most of her animal population to 
sleep. In lodge and in burrow and under every sort of 
shelter, they hibernate. This saves food at the season when 
food is most scarce, and removes the less hardy, for a time, 
from the stress of competition. Numerically, it is a very 
small fraction of the total animal life that remains active 
during the winter: only a few birds and mammals. Most 
birds have gone far south, and many mammals lie, like the 
woodchucks, dormant in their burrows. But more than we 
are likely to see, unless we diligently seek them out, are active 
in our midst throughout the season. 
After every snowfall, there is a new record made of the 
winter activity of animals; and anyone, who knows the signs, 
may read it. On the snow, as on a new white page, each 
animal prints its own indisputable narrative. Its footprints 
tell where and whence and howit ran. The leavings from its 
luncheon tell what and where and how it ate. The chips 
from its woodworkings, the scales from its huskings, or the 
earth from its diggings, tell how and where and why it labored. 
And if, by mischance, it fell a prey to some fierce foe, its 
blood-stained fur or feathers by the wayside tell how its little 
life ended in a tragedy. 
On the soft snow we may find the ‘‘signs’’ of animals that 
we rarely meet. Where we have seen no rabbits, the brush- 
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