160 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



left in this country. They are just as good as squir- 

 rel, and I don't believe they are any relation to 

 dogs.' " 



Since the citation above was written the pub- 

 lic suppressive measures taken in Kansas have 

 reduced the pest to negligible proportions ex- 

 cept in the remote northwestern counties. 



The woodchucks. These large ground-squir- 

 rels bridge the gap between the true squirrels 

 and the marmots, as they are called in the Old 

 World, known to us "woodchucks" or " ground- 

 hogs." They are stout, short-legged, inactive 

 animals, with short tails and closely appressed 

 ears, whose dense fur is grizzled gray, in- 

 clined to chestnut or blackish, and whose habits 

 are distinctly terrestrial. Our eastern wood- 

 chuck is found everywhere east of the Plains 

 in all open woodlands, prairies or cultivated 

 regions, for he thrives in the midst of civil- 

 ization, whose cleared fields are to his liking, 

 while he is furnished an abundance of food 

 by the raising of field and garden crops. 

 Few animals are so familiar to the country 

 boy, who early becomes acquainted with its 

 burrows in the hillsides, but rarely has the 



