Читать книгу Round the Year with Enid Blyton—Winter Book - Enid blyton - Страница 3

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Shall we go hunting in the countryside this winter to see what we can find? So many animals and insects have disappeared, and it would be fun to see if we can find a few of them. What has happened to them all? Where are the wasps, the butterflies, the frogs and toads, hedgehogs and snakes? Where are the bats we saw every evening in the summer, and what has happened to the lively squirrel?

The winter is cold and food is scarce. Animals and insects must make up their minds to do one of three things if they are to live safely through the winter. They can travel far away to countries that are warm and plenteous—and this many of the birds do, as you know. Or they can curl themselves up in some sheltered spot and sleep through the winter frosts—or they can remain awake and face the hardships of the cold days, trying by means of thicker coats to fight the frosts and bitter winds. Many hungry days will be theirs and many shivering nights until the sun shines warmly again and spring comes over the green meadows.

Suppose that you were as small as a hedgehog or toad and did not mean to keep awake during the winter, what would you do? One morning there would be a nip in the air, a nip so sharp that it seemed to shrivel you up. You would crawl about looking for food, and it would be hard to find; but you would not be very hungry, because you would certainly have had a fine feast in the summer and become fat and flourishing. As the day wore on and no sun appeared you would fear the night and its sharp frost. Then an idea would creep into your mind—“I must find a good hiding-place where I can sleep safely.”

Where would you go? Think of all the places you could hide in with safety. You could creep under big stones, or cuddle into a hole in a bank. If you were sensible you would line your hiding-place with something warm, such as dead leaves or moss. Where else could you hide? Yes, in a field drain-pipe or in a hollow tree; what about in the wood-pile or in the middle of last summer’s rubbish-heap? An old nest would be a good place, wouldn’t it? A corner of a dark barn would be excellent, or underneath the roots of a tree. Both places would be dry. Then there is the thick ivy growing up the wall. It keeps its leaves all the winter and would make a fine shelter.

There are many places to choose from, and you would go on a journey of discovery, trying first this place and then that, and at last you would curl yourself up in the one most suitable to you and there fall fast asleep. You would hibernate all the winter—that is the name we give to the long sleep of animals and insects—and when you woke up in the spring-time you would feel rather thin and weak, but the sunshine and food you would find would soon put you right.

A TOAD HIDING IN A DITCH

All the places we thought were good for hiding in are chosen by some creature or other. The toads like a damp spot and prefer to creep under a stone or squat at the bottom of a moist ditch. Their cousins the frogs can often be found in wet ditches, too, but sometimes they prefer the bottom of a pond. Both toads and frogs are cold-blooded creatures—that is, their body temperature is the same as the outside air—so that you can imagine when a very frosty day comes frogs and toads are so extremely cold that they can hardly move about, and have no wish to do so. All they want is to stay still in some sheltered place.

Newts, too, like damp holes in ditches or at the sides of ponds or streams, and they curl themselves up together and sleep soundly. Young newts prefer sometimes to stay in the pond with the fish. They keep at the bottom, where it is warmer, but even if they are venturesome and swim to the top, where they become frozen into the ice, it doesn’t matter—they will thaw out in the spring-time perfectly strong and vigorous! Goldfish in out-of-door ponds often get frozen at the surface, but take no harm.

The badger, who has left his old name, Brock, in many a village name, such as Brockenhurst and Brockley, likes to be comfortable in the winter. He digs out a good deep room in the hillside or wood, and then brings in hundreds of dead leaves to make his cave warm. He blocks up the passages leading to his hiding-place so that the cold may not creep in (and also so that enemies may be kept out!) and then, when the cold days come, he takes all his family into the hiding-place, where they settle down together for a long sleep. If a warm spell comes, the badger unblocks a passage and puts his nose out to see if there is any chance of picking up some food. He is, as you see, not such a heavy sleeper as the toads or frogs, who rarely wake up during their hibernation.

A BADGER BRINGING IN DEAD LEAVES TO MAKE HIS CAVE WARM

The squirrel, too, is not a heavy sleeper. He likes to make careful preparations for a cold winter, but he does not mean to sleep all through it if he can help it. No, he intends to wake up and have a nibble at something. You all know what he does, don’t you, when the nuts are ripening? He plucks them from the twigs and then hunts about for a good hiding-place for them. Sometimes he pops them into a hole in a tree, sometimes he hides them in the ground. He probably forgets a good many of the places, and mice discover some of them and feast in delight—but there are enough left for him, should he need them.

He takes a rook’s old nest, or a magpie’s, and builds it up for himself. Sometimes he builds quite a new nest out of twigs, moss, leaves and bark, a big affair called a “drey.” Here he curls himself up when the frosty days come, and sleeps in warmth and comfort. As soon as a sunshiny spell comes he stretches himself and opens his bright eyes. Out of the nest he scrambles, and at once remembers his hoards of nuts. Off he goes to find them, and has a splendid meal before the cold night drives him back to his drey.

The hedgehog, too, is a light sleeper, though not so light as the squirrel. He likes a nice dry hole in a bank and he is sensible enough to find dead leaves and moss and make himself a warm and comfortable bed. He cuddles down, rolls himself into a prickly ball and says good-bye to the cold days. He is fat when he begins his sleep, but when he awakes, on warm winter days, he is thinner and feels hungry. He may perhaps explore a ditch or two, looking for a hidden beetle or chrysalis before he sleeps again.

A HEDGEHOG LOOKING FOR A COSY SPOT FOR THE WINTER

The little dormouse fattens itself up well before hiding away for the winter deep underground, and it also stores up hazel nuts for a feast when it wakes, as it occasionally does. It sleeps very deeply, becomes exceedingly cold, and hardly seems to breathe. The tiny harvest-mouse spends the winter in a burrow, and near by it stores a little pile of grain so that it may not go hungry should it wake. Sometimes it passes the cold days in a hay-rick, where it is so warm that it does not sleep, but can be seen wide awake.

Caves and barns are favourite places for winter shelters. Do you know of any near your home? Go and look there, taking with you a torch or a bicycle lamp. You will find many creatures! Look up into the corners. What are those queer-shaped things hanging upside down by their feet? Yes, they are bats, all fast asleep! When they begin their winter sleep they are fat, but they get thin as the winter passes, for their bodies draw upon the stored fat and use it up. If a warm day comes, the bats wake up and fly about the barn, looking for insects.

Are there any insects in the barn or in the cave? What are those in the dark corner up there? Flash your lamp and let us see. Can you tell what they are? Butterflies, hibernating together! They are brimstones, tortoise-shells and peacocks. When the spring days come again we shall see them sailing happily in the air, their wings a little ragged, perhaps, but their colours still lovely.

Other creatures are here, too—a multitude of spiders and hosts of chrysalids, besides many smaller sleepers, all of which may become a bat’s dinner. In every nook and cranny they hide, as still as if they were dead. The spider crouches in her web and waits for spring to bring back her victims once more.

Where do the queen-wasps go? Did any of you find them this autumn, hiding stealthily in the folds of your window-curtains? Some hide in the house, and some you will find huddling under the ivy outside. The bees keep to their hives, and often busy themselves in stopping up any hole or crack through which a draught comes. As you know, they store up honey for the winter, but this we take away from them. Instead we give them something sweet to eat, and this they feast on until the first spring flowers open and offer them honey.

THE BAT HANGS HIMSELF UPSIDE DOWN, AND SLEEPS THROUGH THE WINTER

The velvety humble-bee tucks itself away in a hole in the ground and sleeps soundly. Caterpillars usually change into chrysalis form before the winter, though there are some that retire into a hole in the ground and others that remain in burrows they have made in the trunks of trees. Ladybirds and wood-lice (those strange creatures that roll themselves into little grey-black bullets) find cracks and crevices anywhere, and move never a leg whilst the very cold weather lasts.

Where do the snails go? I expect you have found some in your rockeries, or under crazy paving, or tucked into the cracks of walls. Pick one up and look at the underneath of it. Do you see the curious hard plate that seals up the entrance to the shell? That is what the snail has made to keep out the cold.

Have we forgotten any creature? What about snakes? Are they about in the winter-time? No—they are lovers of the sun, and cannot bear the cold. They curl themselves up in hollow trees, in the old nests of birds, in burrows and in piles of brushwood, sometimes quite a crowd of them together.

Our cats and dogs do not sleep the winter through, though perhaps some of our fire-loving cats would like to! They, too, prepare for the cold weather, and grow thicker fur. Horses and donkeys grow thicker coats, and, of course, sheep grow a marvellously warm winter covering. Feel your dog’s coat now, and then feel it again in the summer. You will find a considerable difference.

Who has a tortoise for a pet? What happens to it in the cold days? It makes a hole in the ground and buries itself! In the spring-time it heaves itself up again, and there it is, quite lively, wandering round the garden in search of nice, juicy young leaves.

SNAILS HIBERNATING AT THE FOOT OF AN OLD WALL

Rabbits and foxes grow thicker fur, and the weasels and stoats not only grow warmer coats but, in the north, grow a differently-coloured one of snow-white, to match their wintry surroundings. In the south they do not change the colour of their coats. Farther north they grow a mixed coat of brown and white, and farther away still their entire coat is white save for the tip of their tail, which is black.

This winter you will be able to look for the hiding-places of some of the creatures I have told you about. If you find some of them, as you certainly will, don’t disturb them. Leave them to sleep in peace, and when a warm day comes, go and look at the hiding-place again, to see if its inhabitant is stirring. Look about everywhere, in hollow trees, in ditches, in the ivy or laurel, in barns and out-houses, under stones and in the cracks of your fence or wall. You are sure to find something worth talking about.

THINGS TO DO

1.

Pretend that you are a dormouse, and describe some of the places which might do for a winter retreat for you.

2.

Write down (a) how your cat or dog gets ready for the winter, (b) what the squirrel does, and (c) what the bat does.

3.

When you get home go hunting in your garden or yard and see how many hidden-away insects you can find. Make a list of them, and draw one of them, or more if you can.

4.

When you are out walking, look for an ivy-covered wall and hunt in it to see what you can find. Turn up any big stone and see if you can find a snail to take back to school, so that the others may see its sealed-up shell, if it has already prepared itself for winter.