February Fourteenth
The skunk is one of the mammals who can hibernate or not, just as he chooses. During prolonged periods of cold, he takes shelter in a woodchuck's burrow, and "cuddling down," goes to sleep but a few inches from the rightful owner, who, in turn, is also sleeping in a chamber back of the thin partition of earth which he threw out in front of himself when he retired in the fall.
February Fifteenth
The first bird to actually voice the approach of spring, is the jolly little chickadee. His spring song, "spring's-com-ing," sounds more like "phœbe" than does the note of the phœbe itself, for which it is often mistaken. It is a clear, plaintive whistle, easily imitated, and when answered, the songster can often be called within a few feet of one, where he will perch and repeat his song as long as he receives a reply.
Photograph by Silas Lottridge.
HIBERNATING WOODCHUCK.