THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
the animal dives headlong into its burrow.... The flesh of marmots is 
said to be of good flavor, and is largely consumed by the inhabitants of the 
Siberian Steppes.” 
To this company belong our American woodchucks, and one 
of them, the Rocky Mountain ‘“‘siffleur”’ or whistler, is a larger 
Wood- counterpart of the Alpine marmot, whose wild 
chuck. eerie whistle seems the voice of the spirit of the 
windy solitudés above timber line, where it makes its home. 
It is hunted eagerly by Indians for both its flesh and its fur. 
Our sober eastern 
“ground hog,” 
however, has for- 
saken the prairie- 
dwelling tra 
ditions of the 
tribe and taken to 
the woodlands, 
whither he is 
likely to retire for 
his winter refuge, 
even after spend- 
ing a summer in 
open fields. He is to be found everywhere east of the 
Plains, except along the Gulf coast, and northward to Lab- 
rador; other species of larger size occur west of the Plains 
and in the wooded Canadian Northwest. The habits of all 
of them are much the same as those of their cousins 
across the sea, and abound in queer, comical ways. The 
woodchuck affords a most striking example of hibernation; 
that is, the going into a deep sleep in winter, as a means of 
passing safely that part of the ycar. 
THE WOODCHUCK. 
When the temperature sinks below a certain figure the vital energy of 
certain animals becomes so diminished that they fall into a more or less 
profound torpor. Semper’s pet prairie dogs (living in Germany) began 
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