ARCTOMVS MOXAX. 



241 



hay is cut in Jul)', while there are a few that never abandon their 

 forest homes. But few reside permanently in the open fields.* 



The Woodchuck is our most remarkable example of a hibernatincr 

 mammal. He lays up no store of provision, but remains dormant 

 throughout the winter. Neither temperature nor cpiantity of food 

 at hand has to do with the beginning- of his \-oluntary seclusion. 



The ilrst copious rains that fall after ha)ing is over cause fresh 

 (i-reen grass to spring up anew upon the meadows. This second crop, 

 termed rowen or aftermath, usualK' attains a luxuriant growth by 

 the latter part of August. In nian\- places it consists largely of 

 red clover ( TrifoliiDii pratcnsc), the fax'orite food of the Wood- 

 chuck. And this animal eats so much during the month previous 

 to his withdrawal into the earth that he becomes exceedingly fat, 

 and proportionally inert, and is therefore in excellent condition for 

 hibL^rnating. Along the western border of the Adirondacks he 

 usually goes into winter-cj^uarters between the i8th and 25th of 

 .S^^ptember, not to reappear till the middle or latter part of March. 

 It is indeed a curious coincidence that the limits of the dormant 

 state should so closely correspond with the periods of the e(pii- 

 noxes. In nine cases out of ten he disappears, with astonishing 

 precision, within a few days of the autumnal (.'([uinox, and remains 

 under o-round till about the time the sun cuts the plane? of the 

 equator at the vernal ecpiinox.f 



* It may not be amiss to acquaint my readers with the reason-- that lead nu to l)elieve that the 

 majority of our Woodchucks desert the meadows in autumn and hibernate in burrows in the woods. 

 There are two principal facts, either of which is sufficient, in my opinion, to establish the existence 

 of this habit. P'irst : As will be hereafter sh'jwn. Wojdchucks, in this region, como out from thei r 

 burrows in early spring two or three weeks before the disapi)earance of the snow, and may easily 

 be tracked to their hole^. Xow it has been my experience (an experience covering at least fifteen 

 years) that fully 9.) per cent, of those that appear before the snow goes in spring, come from holes 

 in the woods. Second : In the fall of the year I have opened a number of meadow burrows, 

 which I knew were inhabited up to a week of the time when the animals went uito wintor- 

 (|uartcrs in September, and almost without exception such burrows have l)cen found to be 

 tenantlcss. 



f To this rule tiure are, of course, exceptions, but tiiey arc not sufficiently fre({uent to in any 

 way invalidate the accuracy of the ab.)ve general statement. During very warm weather it some- 

 times happens that a Woodchuck maybe seen sunning himself at the mouth of his hole for an hour 

 or two in tiie hottest part of the afternoon as late as the hrst of October, but such instances are 



