ANIMALS AND THE WEATHER 95 
any undue inconvenience, but, curiously 
enough, when once it has become accustomed 
to dwell in a warmer zone it no longer appre¬ 
ciates Arctic conditions. It becomes “ soft,” 
to use a common expression, and refrains 
from entering its bath during the winter— 
ice-cold water no longer appealing to its 
taste. 
As already mentioned in a former chapter, 
a number of animals change the colour of their 
coats during the varying months ; the Arctic 
fox, the stoat, the blue or mountain hare, 
and the willow-grouse being notable examples 
of creatures that assume a white livery during 
the winter months, and more sombre hues in 
the summer time. 
The change, however, is not a constant 
one, for only in the colder regions of their 
habitat do they undergo the transformation. 
Biting winds and hard frosts often have 
a marked effect on the behaviour of living 
creatures, and we all know how tame our 
birds will become during an exceptionally 
hard spell of weather, and how they look 
to mankind to assist them in procuring the 
food which Nature has withheld from them 
for the time being. The advent of winter 
also heralds the approach of numbers of sea¬ 
gulls to the metropolis, and it is a never-failing 
