A SEMIANNUAL SLEEPER. 



249 



wise, however, to be deceived by this purely super- 

 ficial observance of better habits. . . . The wood- 

 chuck is not only a nuisance but a bore ; it burrows 

 beneath the soil and then chuckles to see a mowing 

 machine, man and all, slump into one of these holes 

 and disappear ! " 



Now this most imiuteresting animal is a strict 

 vegetarian ; his home is usually on the border of a 

 fertile field where food is 

 consists of succulent grasses 

 and herbs, roots, vege- 

 tables, and es- .7//^^ 

 peciallvred „ ,„. .^ 



"On the border of a fertile field.' 



clover. Of 

 the last he 

 is particular- 

 ly fond, and 

 wherever there 

 is a red-clover field one is pretty sure to see either a 

 woodchuck or his burrow. 



Digging out a woodchuck' s hole with the expec- 

 tation of finding the occupant, is an undertaking too 

 arduous to find a fit expression in words. The gal- 

 lery slopes off at an angle of about twenty-three de- 

 grees for a length of four feet ; then, at a depth of 

 three— sometimes only two— feet below the surface, 

 it inclines upward in no settled direction and con- 



