Fes., 1912. MamMats oF ILLINOIS AND Wisconsin — Cory. 153 
Pile of loam. 
Pile of loam. 
Entrance 
on slope of hill. 
)<—~ Entrance 
on slope of hill. 
Plan of a Woodchuck Burrow. 
Mr. W. H. Fisher of Cincinnati, Ohio, has published an interesting 
paper on the burrows of this animal.* He examined 9 burrows: the 
longest was 47 feet 11.50 inches (for all the galleries) and the shortest 
was 6 feet 8.50 inches; the greatest depth (measured from the surface) 
was 49 inches. Some burrows had three entrances, a few only one, but 
the majority had two. 
Each burrow is generally inhabited by a pair of Woodchucks, 
although occasionally by a single old male. The young are born in 
their underground home late in April or early in May and usually 
number from four to six, but occasionally as many as 8 are found in a 
litter. They are very small and blind at birth and do not come out of 
the hole until they are four or five weeks old and the weather becomes 
quite warm. 
Regarding the habits of this animal Kennicott says, ‘‘In this part 
of Illinois it was exceedingly rare ten years ago, but is now becoming 
quite common. It is an inhabitant of the woods, where it occupies the 
place that the spermophiles do on the prairies; and though it burrows 
in open fields, and in the timber, I am not aware that it ever lives on 
the prairie, though I have seen it in prairie groves. In the East, it 
inhabits open fields in preference to deep woods. This love for open 
ground is probably acquired. Here I have most commonly observed 
it in the heaviest timber, and it is said to be found most abundantly 
in Missouri . . . It is very watchful, and, when feeding, will 
frequently stand erect, with neck stretched as high as possible, and look 
* Journ. Cincinnati Soc. Nat. Hist., XVI, 1893, pp. 105-123, pls. 6-I0. 
