Woodchuck 
of the woods—not an altogether inappropriate title, at least as 
regards disposition. 
The real woodchuck of the woods, instead of spending his 
days in the sunlit fields or open hard-wood groves and orchards, 
digs his hole among the rocks and ledges, beneath the roots of 
great hemlocks and pines, where the sun hardly penetrates and 
the decaying tree trunks are crossed and tumbled against each 
other overhead, supported and held in position by those that are 
still standing. Here he scrambles about among the underbrush 
and fallen branches, subsisting on berries and whatever green 
stuff is to be had in its season, probably feeding on edible 
mushrooms when they are to be obtained, like the partridges 
and squirrels who are his associates. He may frequently be seen 
of a summer afternoon stretched in the sun along some _ half 
prostrate log, evidently glad to take advantage of whatever of the 
sun’s rays manage to penetrate among the shadows of his retreat. 
Enjoying as he does comparative immunity from the attacks of 
men and dogs, and having at the present day very few natural 
enemies to avoid, he should, and in all probability often does, 
live out his allotted time; and it is no uncommon thing to find 
the bones of these animals in hollow logs and_ similar places, 
showing no signs of having suffered a violent death. A careful 
observer of Nature once told me that he had once seen a wood- 
chuck, apparently very old and feeble, laboriously digging a shal- 
low hole in the soft earth, and that on returning, some hours later, 
he had discovered him curled up at the bottom of the hole quite 
dead, undoubtedly having died of old age after digging his own 
grave and crawling into it. He believed this to be a_ regular 
custom with them, and said that he had met with a number 
of people who asserted the same thing. 
In one respect the forest woodchuck does not have so easy 
a time of it as his brethren who abide in the open country, 
seldom attaining to such an extreme condition of corpulency, and 
in consequence being compelled to awake and crawl out of bed 
much earlier in the spring, often making his appearance when 
the snow is still several feet deep. Such unfortunates are obliged 
to worry along as best they can until warm weather, seeking 
out the spots of bare earth beneath the evergreens and gnawing 
ravenously at the bark of trees or anything that can possibly be 
made to answer as a substitute for food. They are soon piti- 
155 
