WINTER WAYS OF ANIMALS 163 
fat when they go to bed in the auturnn and 
fat and strong when they come out in the 
spring. 
A snowy winter gives a bear den a cold-ex- 
cluding outer covering—closes the entrance and 
the airholes. Most bears and ground-hogs ap- 
pear to remain in the den all winter. I have 
known an occasional ground-hog to thrust out 
his head for a few minutes now and then dur- 
ing the winter, and bears may come forth and 
wander about for a time, especially if not 
quite comfortable. I have known a number of 
bears to come out toward spring for brief air- 
ings and sunnings. 
Mid-winter a bear wanted more bedding. In 
fact, he did not have any, which was unusual. 
But the winter was cold, no snow had fallen, and 
the frigid wind was whistling through his poorly 
built den house. The usual snow would have 
closed the airholes and shut out the cold. He 
was carrying cedar bark and mouthfuls of dried 
grass into the den. 
This same winter I came upon another bear. 
Cold or something else had driven him from his 
den. When I saw him he was trying to reopen 
an old den which was back in a bank under the 
roots of a spruce. He may have tried to dig 
a den elsewhere, but the ground was frozen al- 
most as hard as stone. While he was working 
