78 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [16:2— Feb., 1920 



The common woodchuck, the more or less understood companion 

 of every country boy, is a fine type of a burrowing animal. His 

 feet are adapted for digging, his cheek-pouches for carrying food ; 

 his ears may be closed at will to keep out the soil when it is digging; 

 his tail is short and unobtrusive in the burrow but is a bulwark to 

 prop him up on his haunches when he lifts up to make observations 

 on the approach of danger. When all these characteristics and 

 many others have been observed and understood then the pupil 

 of the East may have a practical knowledge of the prairie-dog of 

 the arid plains and the gophers of the Middle West and the Rocky 

 Mts. and Sierras. 



Few of our pupils are fortunate enough to be able to study that 

 remarkable animal, the beaver, through personal observation. 

 But, on and around almost all our streams, the muskrat still 

 flourishes; he has feet for digging that are also webbed for swim- 

 ming, his fore-feet having fingers and thumb for holding food; in 

 summer he may live in a burrow in the bank but in winter he may 

 build himself a domed house of 'reeds, sticks, and mud in some 

 pond, — a house high and dry above water but with an entrance 

 below so that he can get to the pond bottom to search for 

 roots of marsh plants ; his tail is scaly and flattened to aid him in 

 swimming and in giving warning signals when an enemy appears by 

 slapping the water; he has fine, soft, waterproof fur and he is in 

 many ways a miniature beaver. A study of him should lead the 

 boy to those parts of our country where the beaver still builds his 

 dams and to a thorough comprehension of that remarkable animal 

 which has taken such a prominent part in changing the geography 

 of our land; I remember that our own ancestral farm covered 

 fifty acres of "beaver meadows," very rich land when drained. 



A study of our weasel or our varying hare, possible to any boy 

 interested in trapping or hunting, brings knowledge of the advan- 

 tages to an animal to have a winter coat of white and leads directly 

 to the consideration of the polar bear, the arctic fox and other arctic 

 life. The study of our dog, whatever his breed, leads out to the 

 study of wolves, coyotes and foxes. The study of puss builds a 

 radius that reaches to the habits of lions, tigers, leopards, and 

 panthers. 



The Geography teacher has a mine of riches in the circus 

 menagerie and the zoo. With selected readings from the books of 

 great naturalists from Wallace and Darwin to Roosevelt and 



