162 WATCHED BY WILD ANIMALS 
digging I found the chipmunks in a sleep so 
heavy that I could not awaken them, and I be- 
lieve they spend much of the eight months 
underground sleeping. Digging also revealed 
that they had eaten but little of their stored 
supplies. 
When food becomes scarce and the weather 
cold and snowy, a number of animals hole 
up—go into a den. By hibernating, sleeping 
away the weeks the earth is barren and white, 
they triumph over the ways of winter. Bears 
and ground-hogs are famous hibernators. Many 
chipmunks and some species of squirrels hiber- 
nate for indefinite periods. 
The Bat and the Bear, they never care 
What winter winds may blow; 
The Jumping-mouse in his cozy house 
Is safe from ice and snow. 
The Chipmunk and the Woodchuck, 
The Skunk, who’s slow but sure, 
The ringed Raccoon, who hates the moon, 
Have found for cold the cure. 
—SAMUEL SCOVILLE, JR., in Everyday-Adventures. 
Animals which hibernate, fast and sleep 
through much or all of the winter, are not 
harmed and possibly are benefitted by the fast- 
ing and sleeping. Bears and ground-hogs are 
