NOTES BY THE WAY 



but it serves as a cloak, which he wraps about him 

 when he sleeps. Thus, some animals put their tails 

 to various uses, while others seem to have no use 

 for them whatever. What use for a tail has a wood- 

 chuck, or a weasel, or a mouse ? Has not the mouse 

 yet learned that it could get in its hole sooner if 

 it had no tail? The mole and the meadow mouse 

 have very short tails. Rats, no doubt, put their 

 tails to various uses. The rabbit has no use for a 

 tail, it would be in its way; while its manner of 

 sleeping is such that it does not need a tail to tuck 

 itself up with, as do the coon and the fox. The 

 dog talks with his tail ; the tail of the possum is 

 prehensile ; the porcupine uses his tail in climbing 

 and for defense ; the beaver as a tool or trowel ; 

 while the tail of the skunk serves as a screen behind 

 which it masks its terrible battery. 



THE WOODCHUCK 



Writers upon rural England and her familiar 

 natural history make no mention of the marmot or 

 woodchuck. In Europe this animal seems to be 

 confined to the high mountainous districts, as on 

 our Pacific slope, burrowing near the snow-line. It 

 is more social or gregarious than the American 

 species, living in large families like our prairie dog. 

 In the Middle and Eastern States our woodchuck 

 takes the place, in some respects, of the English 

 rabbit, burrowing in every hillside and under every 

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