146 OLD PLYMOUTH TRAILS 



has adopted suburban life is a menace of whom 

 I am forced to say in the words of Cato of old 

 ^'Delenda est Carthago." 



The forefathers found the woodchuck here, 

 probably in the first spring garden which they 

 planted over the graves of the dead in Plymouth, 

 saw how much he had eaten and promptly named 

 him, his name meaning ''little pig of the woods." 

 Chuck or chuckle is a word of their time, and I 

 dare say now, meaning 'little pig.'* The idea is 

 again expressed in the rather less polite form of 

 "ground hog" and the hereabouts at least, little 

 known "Maryland marmot" is a third. Scien- 

 tifically he is known as Arctomys monax, being a 

 rodent and classed with the marmots, very close 

 relatives of the squirrels. Perhaps it is through 

 this family affinity that he is able to climb my 

 bean poles. 



The woodchuck has one other distinguishing 

 characteristic which deserves reference, that is 

 his ability as a sleeper. As a home body he is 

 great. As an absorber of garden truck he is 

 greater. But when the sun of October swings 

 low in the south and he has become so fat that 

 he seems to roll to and from his burrow on cast- 

 ors is when he shows his m.ost surprising char- 



