Woodchuck 



fully thin and so active as hardly to be recognized by one familiar 

 only with well-fed summer specimens. 



Woodchucks are seldom seen in the open pasture until the 

 snow has about disappeared and the turf begins to feel soft under 

 foot, with green grass and clover starting up in sheltered places, 

 while those of the cultivated grass lands are still later about 

 showing themselves, so that it would certainly seem that the 

 duration of their winter nap depended largely on the food supply 

 of the preceding summer. Still it is just possible that all the 

 woodchucks return to the woods to "den in," in order to obtain 

 a more even temperature than would be possible in the open 

 ground. Instances of woodchucks having been unearthed in a 

 state of hibernation in the winter are common enough, but 

 whether in the woods or in the open appears uncertain. 



In the summer the rambler often meets little woodchucks 

 only a few weeks old, wandering about the fields alone and 

 unprotected, having been driven from their homes by their hard- 

 hearted parents as soon as they were able to shift for them- 

 selves. These little waifs are not apt to show any alarm on 

 being approached, commonly settling back on their haunches and 

 attempting to bite anything that comes within reach, or else 

 charging savagely at the intruder, with little husky, gurgling 

 cries of anger. An old woodchuck will occasionally attack the 

 person who threatens him, sometimes it would seem even when 

 he is not cornered or confined in any way. But this is nothing 

 to the perfectly reckless courage with which the youngster en- 

 ters into the combat, as if he felt perfectly sure that he were 

 going to have an easy thing of it. As soon, however, as he is 

 quite convinced that you are not going to retreat, and that he 

 is hardly likely to be able to dispose of you to his satisfaction, 

 he starts off on a gallop, but as yet without any especial 

 symptoms of fear, though if you persist in heading him off, he 

 at last comes to realize that he is entirely at your mercy, and 

 a wholly different expression comes into his eyes, he begins to 

 tremble and shiver all over, and finally gives up all attempts to 

 fight or run away, simply crouching in the grass in abject 

 terror. 



I once obtained possession of a little woodchuck that had 

 been brought home uninjured by a dog. If I remember rightly, 

 the original price of the animal was thirteen cents, with a 



