WOODCHUCK or GROUND HOG 



Arct'Oinys mona.r. 



This creature, known to every farmer's boy from New England 

 to Georgia and west to Kansas and North Dakota, belongs to an 

 interesting group called marmots, who are near kin to the squirrels 

 but of heavier build, being the largest of the family and measuring 

 about twenty-four inches in length, with the short tail of about four 

 inches and with the burrowing powers more developed. The wood- 

 chuck's short body, stocky form, short legs and flat head are typical 

 of the whole group, as is also his coarse, stiff covering of a brown- 

 ish gray outer hair, which, when plucked, leaves a thick fine fur that 

 is used in the fur trade to quite an extent. He himself, in spite of 

 the partiality implied by his name, frequents almost equally cultiva- 

 ted fields, pasture, swamp and woodland. Perhaps most often will 



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