AKCTOMVS MONAX. .247 



distance (commonly from lo to 25 feet, or 3.048 to 7.620 metres). 

 Two or more sliort lateral branches are general))- given off from the 

 main gallery, and lead, sloping u})\vard and then downward, to the 

 more or less circular chambers that contain the animal's nests. It 

 has been my invarial)le experience to find these chambers above 

 the level of the bottom of the entrance incline, and I have seen one 

 that was within a foot and a half (.457 metres) of the surface. 

 The nest itself is usually composed of dry grasses and leaves, 

 and rarely exceeds a foot in diameter.* 



It not infrequently happens, where there are two surface open- 

 ings, that the main gallery takes the form of a more or less irregu- 

 lar semicircle, with one or more lateral l)ranches of considerable 

 length, both ends of the main gallery coming to the surface. 



During the last week of April or first of May, the Woodchuck 

 commonly gives birth to from four to six young. A nest which was 

 dug out May 1 ith, 1884, contained two young, whose eyes and ears 

 were not yet open, though the animals were well haired. Each 

 measured two hundred and five millimetres in length, and weighed 

 one hundred and sixty-seven grammes. The nest was one metre 

 below the surface, and was connected with the main burrow b)- a 

 steeply sloping branch. 



When unexpectedly surprised at close quarters the Woodchuck 

 utters a loud, shrill, and tremulous whistle that pierces the ear and 

 evokes from the intruder an involuntary movement or exclamation, 

 even though he may have been similar!)- startled many times before.f 



The Woodchuck is pre-eminentl)- a terrestrial animal, usuall)- 

 spending the whole of his life in or upon the ground, yet some 

 ambitious individuals, prompted either by choice or necessity, 



* The iiLiin gallery or one of its branches commonly terminates in a sliglit excavation which is 

 found to contain the animal's excrement. No other of the lower animals with which I am acquaint- 

 ed constructs a sjjecial receptacle for the deposit and accumulation of its dejections. 



f Dr. Coues speaks of this note as " The merry whistle of the woodcluick at the mouth of its 

 burrow " (Familiar Science, Vol. V, No. I2, Dec, 1S78, p. 230.), but I am unable to conceive how 

 a sudden cry of alarm can be construed into a " merry whistle," 



