1915.] 



INTEODUCTION. 



9 



Bailey and H. H. T. Jackson, it is a common occurrence for wood- 

 chucks to take to trees wlien pursued by dogs. 



The eastern woodchuck is mainly diurnal, but occasionally is 

 found abroad at night also, especially by moonlight. Merriam says 

 of it: 



In simuner, throughout the farming districts, they commonly leave their burrows 

 early in the morning, late in the afternoon, and during moonlight nights, but may 

 sometimes be found abroad at all hours. As autumn approaches, and they become 

 more and more fat and sleepy, they usually appear only in fine weather, and then 

 but for a few hours in the hottest part of the afternoon.^ 



The yellow-footed and hoary marmots are fond of sunning them- 

 selves on projecting points of rock where they are safe from attack 

 and may overlook a wide stretch of country. During cloudy and 

 stormy weather they are less active and spend a larger part of the 

 time in their burrows. 



All the American marmots when alarmed utter a loud, shrill 

 whistle, a habit apparently most pronounced in the hoary marmot, 

 whose notes are much stronger than those of the smaller species 

 and capable of being heard at a distance of more than a mile. This 

 habit has given the name ''whistler'^ to the hoary marmot and 

 ''siffleur" to the woodchuck of eastern Canada. 



BURROWS. 



Although originally hving in the woods, the eastern woodchuck 

 prefers clearings for its abode, and, as a result of an abundance of 

 easily obtained food, is now probably much more numerous than in 

 primitive times. Its burrows are commonly excavated in the face 

 of a bluff, in a grassy meadow, or underneath a stone wall, a stump, 

 or the roots of a tree. 



Merriam states that the burrows are of two principal types — 



* * * the fiirst slopes at a moderate angle from the sui'face and has a mound of 

 dirt near its entrance; the other is more or less vertical for several feet (often a metre 

 or more) im m ediately below the surface, and no loose earth can be found in its neigh- 

 borhood. * ^ * As a rule they [the galleries] slant abruptly downward from the 

 entrance to a depth of fi'om three to four feet * ^ * , whence inclining slightly 

 upward and usually curving to one side, they extend horizontally for a varying dis- 

 tance (commonly from 10 to 25 feet) ^ * Two or more short lateral branches 

 are generally given off from the main gallery, and lead, sloping upward and then 

 downward, to the more or less circular chambers that contain the animals' nests. It 

 has been my invariable 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 

 " * * of the surface. The nest itself is usually composed of dry grasses and 

 leaves and rarely exceeds a foot in diameter, * * * The main gallery or one of 

 its branches commonly terminates in a slight excavation, which is found to contain 

 the animal's excrement.^ 



1 Merriam, C. H. Mamm. of the Adirondacks, Trans. Linn. Soc. N. Y., II, 1884, p. 146. 



2 Ibid., pp. 148-149. 



