THE MAMMALS OF NEW JERSEY. =9 
This is a common species in the northern counties of the State, 
i. e., north of Mercer and Middlesex, though often local. In these 
counties, according to Mr. Rhoads, it is not common, and south- 
ward it is very rare or casual. Mr. Rhoads mentions occurrences 
of single individuals at Medford, Mt. Laurel, Haddonfield, Ash- 
land, Greenwich, ‘Tuckerton, Egg Harbor and Salem, and only 
six of these later than 1890. Mr. H. Walker Hand writes me 
that he still hears of one taken now and then in the Cedar Swamps 
of Upper Cape May County. A significant point about all these 
south Jersey records is that they lie around the Pine Barrens, 
either or west of this region, but not in it. The excessively sandy 
character of south Jersey is perhaps not suitable to this species, at 
any rate it is far more at home in the hilly country and on the 
slopes of the Kittatiny Mountains. 
The groundhog is a familiar feature of an upland farm, the 
large holes leading to its subterranean retreat, and the pile of 
earth beside. them are to be seen here and there over the meadows, 
or along the fence rows, and occasionally even in woodland. F're- 
quently, too, the groundhog may be seen nearby standing upright 
on his hind legs in true Marmot fashion, and then as you ap- 
proach he is down on all fours and scuttling for his burrow as 
hard as he can go. He comes out to feed early in the morning 
or late in the afternoon, cropping the grass and herbs and nibbling 
at apples and other fruit that lie scatered on the ground. He 
often climbs up on an old rail fence and lies there basking in the 
sun, and on rare occasions I have seen them in small trees some 
eight or ten feet from the ground, but what the object of such a 
climb might be I failed to discover. The main objects in life of 
the groundhog seem to be eating and digging, and in neither re- 
spect does he benefit the farmer upon whose land he may take up 
his abode. 
Unlike the muskrat his hide is coarse and of no value. 
Aoctomys monax Abbott, Cook’s Geol. of N. J., 1868, p. 757.— 
Abbott, A Naturalist’s Rambles, 1885, p. 450.—Rhoads, Proc. 
Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1897, p. 29.—Rhoads, Mam. Pa. and N. 
J. 903 .;p. G2: 
