Woodchuck 



ground for luncheon, but apparently spends more time then in 

 sunning himself than in eating. Late in the afternoon he again 

 shows himself, and feeds until nearly sunset, when he descends 

 into his burrow for the night. It is not often that he is obliged 

 to go many steps from his doorway in order to fill himself, 

 and by autumn he has usually reached a perfectly ludicrous state 

 of obesity. There are usually several openings to the burrow, 

 connected by well-beaten paths; similar paths radiate off into 

 the grass in all directions, from one clump of clover to the next, 

 and only too often to the bean patch or garden where it pleases 

 him to eat out the tender inside of several cabbage heads in a 

 single night. Beans he strips of leaves, pods and everything, 

 and he is not averse to ears of corn and young pumpkin vines; 

 in fact, there are few things raised in an ordinary vegetable 

 garden which he does not occasionally exhibit a taste for. He 

 is also fond of sweet apples and fruits of various kinds, fre- 

 quently making his home in the orchard for the purpose of en- 

 joying them. When the grass is tall enough he likes to move 

 about in the various paths he has made, nibbling here and there, 

 as suits his pleasure, and sitting bolt upright from time to time 

 to look about him. His attitude toward his enemies is apt to 

 be one of obstinate defiance. Other wild animals of his size, 

 almost without exception, prefer, when in the proximity of houses, 

 to remain in hiding during the day, only venturing out under 

 cover of darkness. But the woodchuck often digs his hole within 

 a few rods of a farmhouse and swaggers boldly about the garden 

 at midday helping himself to whatever appeals most strongly to 

 his appetite. When pursued he scrambles in frantic haste for 

 his burrow, his black heels twinkling in the sunshine as he 

 goes, but on reaching safety he is likely to turn about and thrust 

 out his nose to chuckle defiance at his pursuers. If cornered, 

 he is always ready to fight anything or anybody, and a dog 

 lacking experience in such matters is likely to get the worst of 

 it, for a woodchuck's incisors are weapons not to be despised. 

 If their den is dug out, the woodchucks often manage to escape 

 by burrowing off through the soil, after the manner of moles, 

 filling up the holes behind them as they move along, and evi- 

 dently not coming to the surface until sufficient time has elapsed 

 to ensure their safety, though how they manage to avoid suffo- 

 cation in the meantime is a question difficult to answer. They 



