142 MAMMALIA. 



ARCTOMYS MONAX (Linn.) Schreber. 



Woodchuck ; Marmot. 



The Woodchuck dehghts in the open meadows and rocky hill- 

 sides that mark the possessions of the farmer, but has no love for 

 the extensive evergreen forests that exist in districts remote from 

 civilization. He is, therefore, of rare occurrence within the proper 

 limits of the Adirondacks, though he has been found, sparingly, in 

 the remotest parts of the Wilderness.* In the cultivated area 

 surrounding the Adirondacks he is very abundant, and often 

 proves a serious annoyance to the farmer. 



He is a strict vegetarian, feeding chiefly upon clover and grass. 

 Only in rare instances does he enter the garden, and were it not 

 for the size of his holes he could hardly be regarded as an enemy 

 to the agriculturist. 



With us, the Woodchuck commonly lives in extensive burrows, 

 excavated by himself, though he sometimes takes up his abode in 

 rocky ledges, and in the hollow roots of large trees. During the 

 summer season the greater number live in the open fields, gener- 

 ally selecting good meadows where they are sure to be surrounded 

 with a luxuriant growth of rich grass or clover, so that they can 

 procure an abundance of the best of food without exposing them- 

 selves to the danger of wandering far from their holes. As the 

 season for going into winter-quarters draws near, many of them 

 retire to the groves and borders of woods near by and take posses- 

 sion of other burrows which they occupy till late in the following 

 spring. Some, indeed, leave the meadows immediately after the 



* To cite a few cases : June I2th, 1883, I saw a large Woodchuck in the Brown's Tract road 

 near the Hellgate Lakes ; and later, on the same day, saw another between Third and Fourth 

 Lakes of the Fulton Chain. I have also seen their holes between Upper and Lower Saranac 

 Lakes, and in the side of a knoll between Morse Lake and Second Lake of North Branch, in which 

 laUer place E. L. Sheppard caught one in February or March, 1880. James Higby tells me that 

 in the early part of July, 1878, he almost stepped on a full-grown and very fat W'oodchuck on the 

 portage between Seventh and Eighth Lakes, Fulton Chain. 



