PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
23 
whom therefore our winter is comparative summer. Thus, 
while the failure of the food supply compels some of our 
birds to leave us and spend the winter in foreign countries, 
it also leads others to seek our shores. Altogether, there 
are about thirty distinct species of birds which.spend the 
winter only with us, and which leave us again in early 
spring for their northern homes, And thus the migration 
of the birds may be compared to the flux and reflux of the 
tides,—a continual stream setting northward in the spring, 
and recoiling southward on the approach of winter. 
Besides our migratory birds, there are others of our ani¬ 
mals, such as the bat, hedgehog, frog, toad, lizard, &c., which 
also feed, to a large extent, if not entirely, upon insects, 
which are not to be found in winter. As they cannot, like 
the birds,, follow their food to other countries, they are 
enabled, during that season to do without it altogether; 
and they accordingly spend the winter here in a state of 
hybernation, or winter sleep, which varies in intensity and 
duration. Of all our animals, the winter sleep of the bat 
is perhaps the most profound, as it has been proved by ex¬ 
periment that while in that condition it does not even 
breathe. During the winter they are found hanging in 
clusters from the roofs of caves, houses, or any dark recess 
to which they can find an entranee, suspended by their 
hind feet, with their heads downwards, and their bodies 
covered over with their wings to maintain their warmth- 
The numbers in which they congregate together in these 
winter retreats of theirs is very considerable. On one oc¬ 
casion I saw 650 emerge in one hour from the space be¬ 
tween the slates and the roof of a kitchen where they had 
taken up their abode. And as on my return an hour 
afterwards they were coming out as rapidly and regu¬ 
larly as before, there must have been at least 1500 as¬ 
sembled there during the winter. 
The hedgehog is another of our animals which takes 
to itself a winter nap, almost as deep and unbroken 
as that of the bat. When the cold weather begins to 
set in, it rolls itself over and over among the withered 
grass and leaves, until it becomes a huge hay ball, 
and then it creeps into some snug place, at the root 
of a tree or hedge, where it spends the winter, no doubt 
to its own entire satisfaction. At one time I had a 
pet hedgehog, which, when it betook itself to its winter 
sleep, I put into a bandbox, and placed on a shelf, 
and there it slumbered in peace, until the return of 
the warm weather awoke it to activity, when it came out 
of its temporary house decidedly leaner, but otherwise 
none the worse of its sojourn. 
Numbers of beetles also hybernate. Of these some, such 
as the dor beetles, on the approach of winter, bury them¬ 
selves deep in the earth. Others, such as the water beetles, 
burrow down into the mud at the bottom of stagnant pools, 
and spend the winter there. While others again, such as the 
rose beetles, go to sleep during the winter in the crevices 
of walls, and beneath the bark of trees,—sometimes in a 
solitary state, and sometimes in clusters together. 
The snakes and lizards hybernate beneath banks, or under 
manure heaps or brushwood. The toad prefers to take its 
winter sleep in some hole in an old wall, or in a burrow 
which it has made at the root of a hedge. While the frog, 
though closely allied to the toad, prefers a different winter 
residence, and consequently it goes to sleep during that 
season, in the mud, at the bottom of the pond which it 
has frequented during the summer. While the snail, 
weary perhaps of always carrying his house about with 
him on his back, creeps into some crack in the wall, to the 
side of which it glues its shell tightly, and there it spends 
the winter, beyond the reach of either cold or hunger. 
Others of our animals such as the squirrel and dormice, 
which live mostly upon acorns and grain, are also de¬ 
prived by the return of winter of their food supply, 
and they too hybernate. With them, however, the 
winter sleep is neither so deep, nor so continuous, as 
in the case of the animals I have already referred to. 
On the contrary they frequently awake during that season, 
and, as they would otherwise perish of hunger during 
their waking, intervals, they lay up, during the summer, a 
store of their favourite food, of which they partake freely 
when they arouse themselves, and then retire again to 
rest. So that they spend the winter in alternate eating 
and sleeping, and thus contrive to get along very com¬ 
fortably. 
Such, then, is a brief outline of the winter life 
of some of our animals. And thus by the instincts of 
hybernation and migration, which are so different in them¬ 
selves, but equally efficacious for the accomplishment of 
the end which He has in view, the great Creator supplies 
all their wants, and in doing so illustrates the greatness of 
His wisdom, and His power. 
In the discussion which followed the reading of Mr 
Brown’s paper, 
Mr John Young said they had heard of how some 
animals spent the winter, but he would tell them how a 
dog spent part of the spring. A gentleman residing 
in the city possessed a dog of the fox-terrier race, which 
disappeared about three weeks ago, and it was only dis¬ 
covered the other day locked up in a room where there 
was neither meat nor drink. It was reduced to a perfect 
skeleton, and could hardly walk. Now, however, it was 
getting on as well as could be expected, being carefully 
