Fes., 1912. MamMats oF ILLINOIS AND WIscoNsIN — Cory. 51 
Marmota monax Apams, Rept. State Board Geol. Surv. Mich., 1905 (1906), p. 128 
: (Michigan). Jackson, Bull. Wis. Nat. Hist. Soc., VI, 1908, p. 19 (Wisconsin), 
Haun, Ann. Rept. Dept. Geol. & Nat. Resources Ind., 1908 (1909), p. 480 (In- 
diana). HowELt, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash., XXIII, 1910, p. 25 (southern Illinois, 
Missouri, Kentucky). 
Type locality — Maryland. 
Distribution — From the edge of the Plains to the Atlantic, north 
to about the Canadian border except in northern Maine, northern 
New Hampshire and northern Vermont; south to Virginia, Ken- 
tucky, central Missouri and Kansas, and in the Allegheny Mountains 
in Tennessee. Replaced in Canada by a smaller and browner 
form, M. m. canadensis. 
Description — Adult: General color grizzly brown, the hairs on the 
back being largely tawny brown with gray tips and blackish bases; 
belly and under parts more tawny brown, shading to rusty brown 
around the fore legs; feet brownish black; cheeks grayish; mouth 
edged with more or less whitish; tail dark brown, many of the hairs 
tipped with gray. The general color is variable, some being 11.uch 
darker than others and occasionally black or pure white specimens 
occur. Two fine examples of the latter are contained in the Field 
Museum collection. 
Measurements — Total length, 22 to 25 inches; tail vertebra, 5.25 to 
6.15 inches; hind foot, 3.40 to 3.75 inches. 
Average measurement of eight specimens from various localities: 
Total length, 23.25 in. (579.8 mm.); tail vertebrae, 5.60in. (142mm.); 
hind foot, 3.60 in. (90.4 mm.). 
Remarks — Specimens from northern Wisconsin are intermediate 
between monax and canadensis, and those from the extreme northern 
part of the state, while not typical canadensis, approach much 
nearer to that form than to monay. 
The Woodchuck, or Ground Hog as it is often called, is common 
throughout Illinois and Wisconsin. At the present time in settled 
districts it frequents open fields in preference to woods (which is its 
natural habitat), where it lives in burrows in the ground. These 
burrows vary in form and extent; some are not uncommonly 50 feet 
in length, while others will not exceed 10 feet or even less. They are 
rarely more than 5 feet in depth below the surface of the ground at the 
deepest point. I once found a nest at the end of a burrow which was 
5 feet 3 inches below the surface of the ground, but the average depth 
will probably not exceed 4 feet. Usually each burrow is provided 
with at least two entrances and often with three, including a “back 
door.” The following sketch illustrates the plan of a burrow of a large 
Woodchuck in an alfalfa field at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. 
