WOODCHUCKS AND PORCUPINES 



BY R. W. SHUFELDT 



(PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR AND OTHERS) 



THE woodchucks we have in this country not only 

 vary considerably in appearance and color, but 

 their habits are likewise dissimilar owing to the 

 difference in the environments in which they exist. I 

 have had but little acquaintance with the northern and 

 western forms of these animals, but abundant oppor- 

 tunity to study the eastern species in different sections of 

 the New England and Middle States. Many years ago, 

 during my boyhood days, which were mostly spent in 



SOME CALL THIS THE GROUND HOG 



Figure 1. An excellent picture of an old Woodchuck in a characteristic 

 attitude. By the author from a drawing by Leon L. Pray, illustrating 

 "The Mammals of Illinois and Wisconsin" by Charles B. Cory. 



happy old New England, I did my share of both trap- 

 ping and shooting woodchucks even helping to eat a 

 roasted one on occasions. But I did more than this, as 

 I had them as pets several times, and closely studied 

 their habits in nature and in confinement. In those days, 

 in some parts of the State of Connecticut, it would 

 be hard to pick out a clover field of any size that did 

 not have a woodchuck burrow in some part of it. Some- 

 times the animal would choose a site somewhere under a 

 stone wall surrounding a field; or, if there were a large 

 rock anywhere about the middle of the field, he would 

 burrow under this as a very choice location. Finally, 

 the roots of an old apple or other tree would often be 

 chosen for his stronghold, the burrow being dug down 

 among them, as though its owner seemed to realize that 

 no one would dream of attempting to dislodge him from 

 such quarters. 



As is the case with excavations made for their habi- 

 tation by most fossorial mammals, the burrow of a 



woodchuck at first descends obliquely into the earth; it 

 then passes nearly horizontally for several feet, rises 

 moderately for the last half of its length, to terminate 

 in quite a spacious and round chamber which consti- 

 tutes the "living-room" of the entire family. Here the 

 female brings forth her litter, and here the young re- 

 main until they pair off and dig their own homes else- 

 where. Such a burrow may be at least thirty feet in 

 length so long that one never dreams of digging a 

 woodchuck out; but I have seen farmers bring up two 

 or three barrels of water on a cart, and drown the 

 occupants of this subterranean establishment at short 

 notice, rejoicing most heartily if, in addition to the pair, 

 seven or eight quarter-grown young were caught at the 

 same time. I have often captured them in steel traps set 

 at the mouth of the burrow, taking the precaution of 

 covering it carefully with fine dirt. One old wood- 

 chuck had constructed his burrow almost in the exact 

 center of a twenty-acre clover lot, and every attempt to 



PLAN OF A WOODCHUCK'S BURROW 



Figure 2. No existing quadruped can excel the Woodchuck in scientifi- 

 cally carrying out the scheme of a burrow; it fulfils all the necessary 

 ends of an underground habitation. 



capture him had utterly failed. It was the rarest thing 

 to even catch him standing at the entrance to his bur- 

 row during the day, but just his head and shoulders 

 might be frequently seen out of it. I must have fired 

 at him twenty or thirty times from the other side of the 

 stone wall that surrounded the field, and that with a 

 heavy, old-fashioned, muzzle-loading Kentucky rifle, 

 which, at seventy-five or hundred yards, was good 

 nearly every time for small game. But every shot had 

 failed. A cloud of dust would puff up at the very en- 

 trance to the burrow each time, and I would walk con- 

 fidently over to pick him up ; but no. Next day, at noon, 



147 



