150 



WOODCHUCKS AND PORCUPINES 



trees, but only in rare instances ; in over forty years' ex- 

 perience with them I have known of but two or three 

 climbers. The first was discovered by several boys and 

 myself, and this was up in a solitary, hard maple, about 

 fifteen feet from the ground. This tree was in an open 

 field, and at least one hundred yards from the nearest 

 hole in the ground. It was about 12.30 P. M. of a 

 chilly September day, when one would expect these ani- 

 mals to be safely under ground. It could not have been 

 in the tree for a sun-bath, and we concluded that the 

 woodchuck, which was a young one, was without a home 

 of its own, and that we had surprised it in its wanderings, 

 causing it to take 

 refuge in the tree 

 before we saw it. 

 The other, a full- 

 grown woodchuck, 

 was treed by a dog 

 or at least found 

 by the dog in a 

 large, soft maple 

 tree, and at least 

 twenty feet above 

 the ground. The 

 lower limbs, where 

 the animal was 

 found, were of 

 small size, and so 

 nearly vertical that 

 the animal had to 

 hang on for its life. 

 I stoned it out of 

 the tree, and noted 

 that it seemed 

 afraid to climb 

 higher to get out of 

 the way, and that 

 it was very handy 

 with its paws, 

 grasping the limb 

 as a coon does 

 without using its 

 claws. It must, 

 however, have 

 used its claws in 

 climbing the tree." 



Another correspondent, of Passaic, New Jersey, wrote 

 me as follows : "One day, when I was a boy, my father 

 told me that a neighbor's dog had a woodchuck treed in 

 a small patch of woods, so I took my gun and shot it. 

 It had climbed a straight hickory tree to the first branch, 

 about eighteen feet from the ground. This tree was 

 about eight inches in diameter at the butt, and stood 

 perpendicular. The woodchuck was of medium size and 

 not fat." 



From Moosup, Connecticut, came another letter, and 

 my correspondent stated in part: "In the year 1892 I 

 shot 250 woodchucks. Of this number I got one from 

 the top of quite a large apple tree that leaned about 



THE YELLOW-HAIRED PORCUPINE 



Figure 9. Porcupines can be readily overtaken in their native wilds and killed without the 

 use of gun or pistol. They are eaten with relish by the Indians, and their squaws use the 

 quills in their fancy work. In the mountains they have been found at very high altitudes, 

 12,400 feet in Colorado. Copied by the author from "Mammals of America," The University 

 Society, Incorporated. 



45 degrees from the perpendicular. In an experience 

 of more than thirty years, that is the only one I ever 

 saw in a tree." 



Stone and Cram, in their "American Animals," say: 

 "The woodchuck is, perhaps, the least industrious ani- 

 mal in existence, except when engaged in digging his 

 hole, when he works away at a tremendous rate until 

 it is finished ; but once it is completed, he seldom attempts 

 to enlarge or remodel it in any way, but spends his days 

 in luxurious ease, coming out to get his breakfast soon 

 after sunrise, while the dew is still on the grass, at which 

 time he makes his most substantial meal, though he 



may occasionally be 

 seen feeding at any 

 time of the day. At 

 noon, he is pretty 

 sure to make his 

 appearance above 

 ground for lunch- 

 eon, but apparently 

 spends more time 

 in sunning himself 

 than in eating. Late 

 in the afternoon he 

 again shows up, 

 and feeds until 

 nearly sunset, when 

 he descends into 

 his burrow for the 

 night. It is not of- 

 ten he is obliged to 

 go many steps from 

 his doorway in or- 

 der to fill himself, 

 and by autumn he 

 has usually reached 

 a perfectly ludi- 

 crous state of obesi- 

 ty. There are gen- 

 erally several open- 

 ings to his burrow, 

 connected with 

 well-beaten paths ; 

 similar paths radi- 

 ate off into the 

 grass in all direc- 

 tions, from one clump of clover to the next, arid only too 

 often to the bean-patch or the garden, where it pleases 

 him to eat out the tender inside of several cabbage heads 

 in a single night." Then, after giving it as their opinion 

 that a woodchuck will consume everything that grows in 

 the garden, or in the orchard, in the way of vegetables, 

 fruits, and leaves, these interesting authors proceed to 

 say that "his attitude toward his enemies is apt to be one 

 of obstinate defiance. Other wild animals of his size 

 prefer, almost without exception, when in the proximity 

 of houses, to remain in hiding during the day, only ven- 

 turing out under cover of darkness. But the woodchuck 

 often digs his hole within a few rods of a farm-house, 



