THE WAY OF A WOODCHUCK 147 



acteristic. Mr. Wardle's fat boy with all his 

 fame never slept as the woodchuck then prepares 

 to sleep, however well he matched his eating. 

 The first chill wind sets him to dragging dry 

 leaves and grass down into the snuggest chamber 

 of his burrow and there a little later he tucks his 

 nose in between his little black-gloved forepaws 

 and goes to sleep. When the woodchuck is 

 leaner he goes to sleep by drowsily sitting up- 

 right, his head drooping lower and lower until 

 he finally rolls into a round ball and falls on his 

 side. But in late October the woodchuck is so 

 nearly round with obesity that he cannot roll up 

 and I fancy him just withdrawing his nose and 

 his toes a little farther into himself, and going 

 to sleep in that attitude with a sigh of content. 

 The woodchuck's chief fame seems to rest on this 

 trait, his ability to go to sleep before cold weather 

 and not wake up again until the spring has again 

 brought out the green things for his delectation. 

 To be sure tradition has it that the ground hog 

 comes to the mouth of his burrow on Candlemas 

 Day and looks for his shadow that he may figure 

 out how much longer he may sleep. But that I 

 take to be a mere literary furnishing, like the 

 chuck part of the animal's name, brought from 



