MAMMALS OF PENNSYLVANIA AND NEW JERSEY. 65 



Mercer Co. — " Not common around Princeton ; even on the Rocky Hill 

 range it is scarce. I have several skins from this locality, but have not seen 

 more than a half dozen in the last ten years." — Phillips, 1901. Occasional 

 in vicinity of Princeton. — Scott. Not uncommon in this Co., but more 

 abundant in adjoining Cos. — Abbott, 1900. "In the last five years have col- 

 lected six adult specimens from Mt. Lucas. It is supposed to be rare, as 

 traces of it are seldom seen." — Silvester, 1901. None seen around Lawrence 

 Sta. — McGuigan, 1901. One taken alive near Lawrence and taken to Tren- 

 ton as a curiosity. — D. Ray, 1901. 



Morris Co. — Several are found on farms near Gillette, in 1901. — Rhoads. 



Ocean Co. — One found in burrow on McCoy farm near Tuckerton (about 

 1880?). — Jillson. One shot by Horace Pharo on Pharo farm at Tuckerton 

 about 1894. — Rhoads. One killed near Tuckerton in summer of 1897 and 

 another in 1898, so Jillson says, — Price, 1901. 



Salem Co. — "About 30 years ago [1872] there was a burrow of the 

 Ground hog along the hill sides of Mannington Creek." — Caspar W. Thomp- 

 son. " Our country [Salem Co.J was' the home of but one species of Mar- 

 mot, familiarly known as Woodchuck. They lived in communities and bur- 

 rowed in wooded hillsides." — W. Patterson in "Extinct Fauna of Salem Co.," 

 read before the Salem Co. Histor. Soc, Mar. 10, 1896. 



Union Co. — "One seen (by me) south of First Mountain, near Plainfield, 

 Aug. 14, 1898. Another seen on Second Mountain, near Plainfield, April 23, 

 1899. Never seen south or east of Plainfield." — Miller. 



Habits, economic status, etc. — In nearly all the country covered by this 

 paper the habits of the ground hog are too well known. In the mountainous 

 districts where rocks abound and afford it greater security in its underground 

 retreats, it has become a pest to the tiller of the soil because of its great 

 abundance. There are sometimes twenty of their families on an area of 150 

 acres in Warren Co., N. J., where the farms reach up the sides of the Kitta- 

 tinny Mountain. Most of the northern counties of the state can mourn over 

 similar conditions. So bad are the Warren Co. ground hogs, there is a 

 special bounty put upon their scalps in Frelinghuysen Twp. of 10 cents each, 

 and in consequence thousands are slaughtered. The woodchuck is pre- 

 eminently a grass eater, and clover pleases him all too well. The following 

 extract from a letter by A. C. Sisson of La Plume, will illustrate how they re- 

 gard him in Lackawanna Co. in northern Pa. I take it from Dr. Warren's 

 "Poultry" book: "The ground hog is fast becoming one of the farmer's 

 and gardener's most destructive enemies. I would most earnestly recom- 

 mend legislative aid in suppressing this intolerable nuisance. There should 

 be a bounty of at least twenty-five cents on every one killed. I have looked 

 in vain for one redeeming trait in this sneaking, groveling curse to the agri- 



