914 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 
table. They saluted us a few times with their curious 
and rapidly uttered “wake up,” “wake up,” and 
then with that shrill scream flew away. On a little 
hillside across the road, three woodchucks came out of 
their burrows and fed awhile on the clover. These 
homely though wholesome burrowing animals are very 
cleanly in their eating habits, living almost entirely on 
clover, unless they can find growing beans, of which 
they are very fond. They are grotesque in their move- 
ments, and billow along one end at a time as awkwardly 
as a moving caterpillar. Few people are aware that 
when fat and properly cooked these animals form a 
most enviable dish that rivals in flavor the most savory 
lamb. Woodchucks and muskrats had a peculiar charm 
for Thoreau, and the sight of either always awakened 
in him the liveliest interest. 
The roadsides are just now beautified as never 
earlier or later, by the sweet elders, which are in full 
blossom. Their creamy white flowers are very showy 
and fragrant. We miss them along many of the 
model farms, and often turn aside and travel miles 
of byroads where these beautiful bushes are al- 
lowed to grow wild and luxuriant, a joy to man 
and bird. There are few ornamental bushes grow: 
ing in city lawns and gardens that can compare 
in beauty and fragrance with this vagrant of 
the hedges and highways. Like the clover and 
dandelions, they are so common and without cost that 
many people forget to admire them; but were they 
blotted from the earth, or could they be obtained only 
