Breakfast for One.

Otago Witness, Issue 2677, 5 July 1905, Page 68

Breakfast for One.

That 'keen observer of Nature on the Pacific Coast, John Mvir — he is a Scot , abroad, by the way — tells in "Our National • Parks" a pretty story of a woodchuck. In the spring! of 1875 he was exploring the peaks and glaciers about the head of tho middle fork of the San Joaquin, and when passing round a frozen lake where the enow was 10ft deep was surprised to find the fresh track of a woodchuok. What could the animal be thinking of, to come out to early while all the ground was snow-buried? The steady direction of his traok showed he had a definite aim, and fortunately it was toward a mountain 13,000 ft high that I meant to climb. So I followed to see if I could find out what he was up to. From tho base of the mountain the track pointed straight up, and 1 knew by the melting snow that I was not far behind him. I lost the track on a crumbling ridge, partly projecting through the snow, but soon discovered it again. Toward the summit of the mountain, in an open spot on Ihe south side, nearly enclosed by disintegrating pinnacles, among j which the sun heat reverberated, making • an isolated patch of warm climate, I found a fine garden full of rock cress, phlox, silenc, draba, and a few grasses ; and in this garden I overtook the wanderer, onjoying a fine fresh meal, perhaps the first of the season. flSovv did he know fcho pay to this on-a

garden snot, so high and so far off, and what told him that it was in bloom while yet the snow was 10ft deep over his den? Be must have had more botanical, topographical, and climatological knowledge than most mountaineers possess.

Animals That Defy Cold. — A learned professor of the Aeademie dcs Sciences has been making experiments which have resulted in convincing him that the rabbit is of all living things the most capable of withstanding a very low temperature. Enclosed all night in a block of ice, a rabbit was found next day getting on very comfortably, and evidently not aware of anything very peculiar in its circumstances. In this regard the rabbit leaves far behind our faithful friend the dog, and, according to the learned professor, sheep, goats, and pigs take good second, third, and fourth places.