THE WAYS OF THE WOODCHUCK 217 



dog is between him and his hole the chuck bares 

 his teeth with a squeaky snarl and lunges at his 

 antagonist. When the dog is on the off-side, he 

 backs away toward his hole just as far and as fast 

 as he can, but never ceasing to face the dog. In 

 this way the chuck will progress, by alternate 

 rushes and backings, till suddenly the surprised 

 terrier sees his foe disappear into the yellow earth, 

 and any attempt on his part to follow results in a 

 sorely nipped nose. Woodchucks will also go up 

 a tree to escape a dog, if the occasion offers. A 

 small tree, with thick, low branches, is within their 

 capacity to climb, and they will climb it for ten 

 feet if sufficiently hard pressed. 



It may be that some of their ability to fight comes 

 from practice in mating-time, as well as from their 

 rodent instincts. The woodchucks mate early in 

 the spring, and battles between males are frequent, 

 if we may judge from the squeaks and angry sounds 

 which come across the fields from the vicinity of 

 their burrows. These battles last until the unsuc- 

 cessful rival is driven out of the immediate neighbor- 

 hood. Following such squeals once, we crested a 

 slight ridge in the pasture, and saw one chuck pur- 

 suing another down the slope toward the river-bank. 

 The victor stopped, apparently satisfied, when his 

 rival went over the edge, and started to return. Then 

 he suddenly spied us, and also the young collie with 

 us. We were by this time walking toward him, so 

 he flattened out on the ground and played dead. 

 The pup went up to investigate. Being a young, 

 trustful, innocent pup, without knowledge of evil, 

 he put down his muzzle to smell, and lifted it again 



