ghMAX* U. OF t- VnOAtSA 
972 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Dec. i 8 , 190 
family about every five weeks. In winter no 
family was reared. 
My visitors enjoyed seeing Mother Ann eat 
from a doughnut which hung on a nail. She 
would eat off all the brown outside, then lift 
the doughnut from the nail and let it drop to 
the floor, so she could get at the other side. 
I drove a long spike into the log wall and hung 
a doughnut on that. When the brown of the 
doughnut on the upper side had disappeared, 
Mother Ann would eat a channel to the spike 
so the doughnut would drop off and give her a 
chance at the other side. She understood the 
difference between the nail and the spike. 
She knew that she could throw the doughnut 
from the nail, so did not eat a channel to the 
center. 
Every night after I was in bed Mother Ann 
would talk to me by rapping on the bottom of 
her box. I talked back without understanding 
her meaning. In the morning she called me at 
the usual hour. If I did not get up at once 
she would continue rapping until I did. 
Ten days before her death she did not come 
out of her nest, but she did not fail to rap to 
me night and morning. The tenth night she 
rapped faintly as if with failing strength. The 
next morning she was dead. Hermit. 
Winter Quarters. 
Nature warns her children of the approach of 
winter and the long season of snow and cold 
close at hand. Creatures in all parts of her 
domain from the tiny, ant to the lordly moose 
heed these warnings—the lengthening nights, the 
falling leaves and the biting frosts—and act ac¬ 
cordingly. 
In the Rockies the elk and deer, which in hot 
weather climbed the high mountain peaks to be 
rid of the flies, now slowly retrace their steps, 
descending to the more sheltered forests of the 
lowlands. At this time vast herds, often con¬ 
taining thousands of individuals, may be seen 
in the valleys and on the plains within the Yel¬ 
lowstone National Park. 
With the first frosts is heard the clear bugle¬ 
like challenge of the bull elk, ringing forth from 
the mountain sides. The buck antelope has also 
collected his harem and wheezes his challenge 
from the slightest elevation of the open prairie, 
impatiently stamping his foot and rubbing his 
horns against the sage brush at the approach of 
a possible rival. 
The Rocky Mountain sheep descend from the 
high granite pinnacles toward timber line. The 
big grizzly and cinnamon bears clamber to some 
cleft high up in the granite ledges, there to slum¬ 
ber away the long cold months. The sleek black 
bear, especially in the eastern part of the coun¬ 
try, often contents itself with the scant protec¬ 
tion afforded by a fallen treetop or even an 
overturned stump, if it be large enough, where 
he rolls himself into a huge ball of fur and 
dozes off into an oblivion of many months. 
In days gone by the buffalo banded together 
in enormous herds and drifted southward before 
the biting north wind. 
The caribou of the northern barrens start on 
their long migrations, drifting southward before 
the arctic blizzard. 
The giant moose of the North woods sounds 
his challenge across moon-lit ponds. When the 
deep snow comes he moves down to sheltered 
swamps and valleys where he “yards” for the 
winter season. 
The big gaunt timber wolves band together at 
this season to roam through the Northern wilder¬ 
ness, hungry and savage. The skulking coyotes 
may now be seen hanging on the outskirts of 
the elk herd, ready and eager to feed on the old 
and weak, of whom many perish at this season. 
The large varying hare, known in many sec¬ 
tions as snowshoe rabbit, changes his coat from 
brown to white to more perfectly harmonize 
with the expected snow. The weasel undergoes 
a similar change at winter’s approach. 
During the whole winter the little molly cot¬ 
tontail leaves its triangular prints on the snow 
on all days it is possible to be out. 
The sharp-eyed lynx, the wily fox and the 
hungry mink wander about through the snow 
all winter and many a luckless grouse and rab¬ 
bit will fall a prey to this hard hunting trio 
before the snow goes from beneath the ever¬ 
greens. On favorable days the tracks of the 
skunk will be seen, although he keeps to his 
shelter in very cold and inclement weather. 
At the first approach of cold the woodchuck 
repairs to his underground hole and there slum¬ 
bers blissfully, while the blizzards rage above. 
The raccoon joins his fellows and repairs to 
some sheltered crevice in a sunny ledge for shel¬ 
ter during the cold months. 
The muskrat has built himself a house of mud 
and roots with hidden chambers leading into the 
water and swims about beneath the ice till the 
welcome spring sunshine unbinds the fetters 
from his beloved pond. Indeed, this little ani¬ 
mal actually eats up his own house so that by 
the time spring arrives there remains but little 
of the original habitation in view. 
The gray squirrel builds himself a warm nest 
for the winter and may be seen abroad on 
favorable days. The saucy red squirrel hiber¬ 
nates during the severest weather. The, chip¬ 
munk goes into his underground domain for a 
long sleep until the warm spring sunshine calls 
him forth. 
Wedge-shaped flocks of honking geese may be 
seen silhouetted against the gray twilight sky 
wending their way to warmer climes, and many 
different waterfowl follow swiftly in their wake, 
all flying from the icy grasp of approaching 
winter. 
The song birds have long since taken wing 
for the sunny southland, many of them stop¬ 
ping only when they reach the tropics. 
The ptarmigan of the North have changed 
their plumage to white and secure from attack 
by their likeness to the snow over which they 
strut, pass the long winter on the snow fields. 
Our hardy ruffed grousel refuses to leave his 
haunts at the approach of winter, and having 
grown some feathers on his toes to serve him 
as snowshoes, this grand bird may be found 
abroad in the severest weather. 
As the nights grow colder the bobwhite draws 
near the farm for protection, and in severe 
weather may even come to the barnyard, seek¬ 
ing food and shelter with the domestic fowls. 
The turtles and tortoises have repaired to the 
ponds at the first approach of cold, there to bury 
themselves deep in the mud for the winter. T. he 
frogs have gone into similar winter quarters. 
The cold-blooded snakes have crawled into their 
dens among the loose boulders on some warm 
hillside where, after basking in the faint warmth 
of the waning autumn sunshine, they era 
sluggishly into the crevices, there to merge it 
ball-like masses. While in charge of quarryi 
operations I have often seen a ledge b own < 
in blasting, when a mass of these reptiles wot 
be uncovered. At such times they were fro; 
stiff and could be actually broken in half 1 
a stick, while if placed beneath a stove or 
fore a hot fire they would thaw out and be 
to move. In the fresh water ponds and la 
the fishes swim out into deeper water before 
ice cap closes down over the glistening wab 
The common house fly may be seen cluste 
on the ceiling of the room, where it rema 
motionless till the frost at length saps the t, 
life spark and it dries and crumbles. Some 1 
may crawl into cracks and crevices and th 
survive the long period of cold. 
The wasps bunch together in sunny spots un 
eaves, in attics and in any available spot wh 
they may find a slight degree of warmth u 
at last the increasing cold destroys them. 
The ants go deep down into their well jl 
visioned fortress at the first hint of chil 
frosts. 
The wild honey bees have gathered ne 
from buckwheat and flower and lined the in 
of some hollow trunk with golden honey, wli 
they subsist till new flowers spring forth. 
The exquisite butterflies and moths have 1 
their brief existence and died leaving their la 
the destructive caterpillars, to weave for thj 
selves a silken cocoon where they lie secur 
coldest weather, emerging in the warm suns 
of the following spring to delight the ey( 
they flit about the early flowers. 
Seeking some sheltered spot the spider 
woven about itself a silken ball in which it 
pass the winter. Scientists have found by 
tual test the temperature in these tiny cham 
to be several degrees warmer than the air 
side at the same time. 
Thus, implanted in all wild creatures 1 
the smallest to the greatest, we find displ 
evidences of that indefinable “something” w 
seems to apprise them of the coming chang 
seasons, and in accordance with which they 
and act wisely, toward their preservation 1 
comfort during the long cold months thrq 
which they must somehow endure. 
Elmer R. Greg 
The Pony and the Wolf. 
The other day as Mr. Henninger was wJ 
ing in the field he saw a large wolf cros* 
field a few hundred yards away, leap a 
foot hog fence and make for a flock of sj 
owned by A. P. Besser, says a Western p! 
The sheep started for home, but were j 
overtaken by the wolf. The ram showed i 
but a few snaps convinced the ram that the' 
meant business, and he started for home? 
soon was again overtaken. By this time l 
had reached the top of the hill where a t 
of horses were grazing, among them a She 
pony. The pony immediately charged the 
who let loose of the sheep and made fo 
fence sixty rods away, with the pony in pul 
and clearing the fence disappeared in a n 
boring cornfield. The wolf was a very 
one, and no doubt would have had a pie 
mutton had not the pony interfered. 
