THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION 



^1 



The woodchuck curled himself up iu the 

 center and went to sleep. Without food 

 or drink he remained in this condition 

 until the first or second of February, the 

 cage being placed in an old-fashioned 

 root cellar where tliere was no artificial 



heat. 



On several occasions during Decem- 

 ber and January William R. Lodge tried 

 to arouse him by shaking the cage, and 

 did so disturb him that he would raise 

 his head and grate his teeth, a familiar 

 habit among woodchucks and other 

 rodents, but was never able to induce the 



At that time the cobs would be disturbed 

 and the woodchuck always came out of 

 the nest and stood on his hind feet, with 

 his hands on the bars and his nose 

 through the spaces. He was asking for 

 food, at which time he was given a pars- 

 nip, sometimes cabbage leaves and cake. 

 He would stay out for a day or two, and 

 then go to sleep again, usually for about 

 six weeks, the time depending upon the 

 weather, though the writer does not 

 remember that he stayed out continuously 

 after February 2nd. He usually slept 

 for most of the time, though occasionally 

 he would come out for food. On two 



A WHITE WOODCHUCK. 



animal to come out of his nest so as to 

 l)ecome visible- To prove that the wood- 

 chuck did not move during a large por- 

 tion of the winter previous to February 

 2nd, Mr. Lodge took pop-corn cobs and 

 laid them over the center of the nest, 

 squarely above the woodchuck, and not 

 more than six inches from his head, plac- 

 ing them rail-fence fashion, so that he 

 could easily determine whether or not 

 they were disturbed. They remained in 

 this position for many days during Janu- 

 ary and up to the beginning of February. 

 Mr. Lodge's bedroom was immediately 

 over that portion of the cellar and at an 

 early hour in the morning of February ist, 

 of different years, he was awakened by a 

 shrill whistle such as woodchucks make, 

 but more often not noticed until the 2nd. 



or three occasions the cellai doors were 

 opened and the cage placed so that if 

 there was any morning sunshine he 

 would have an opportunity to make use 

 of it. The cage was aLo sometimes set 

 at the head of the cellar stairs so that it 

 has been proved that the groundhog 

 does come out on February 2nd and not 

 until that time. There being no snow. 

 at present, it has been hard to determine 

 whether or not any of the woodchucks 

 have come to the mouths of their holes 

 in this locality. But it is well-known to 

 hunters and trappers that they do come 

 out about the second of February, for 

 their tracks are found in the snow and 

 even their muddy and sandy footprints 

 on the rail fences whert they sometimes 

 climb for a sun ''nth 



