1 44 
MAMMALIA. 
The remarkable circumstance has already been noticed that the 
Woodchuck often retires to winter-quarters when surrounded by 
an abundance of food, and during the continuance of fine warm 
weather ; but still more surprising is the fact that he generally 
emerofes from his hole and tunnels to the surface while the ground 
is buried in snow to the depth of several feet, and when no green 
thing is to be found upon which he can feed. He not only comes to 
the surface, but makes long journeys in various directions over the 
snow-covered land, and is apt to continue these apparently aimless 
pilgrimages night after night until the fast-melting snow enables him 
to reach the much-coveted grass, which has been kept fresh and 
green in places by its heavy covering. 
The Hon. Daniel Wadsworth, of Hartford, Connecticut, once 
kept a Woodchuck alive for upwards of two years, and furnished 
Audubon and Bachman with the following interesting account of 
its hibernation : “ Winter coming on, the box was placed in a warm 
corner, and the Woodchuck went into it, arranged its bed with care, 
and became torpid. Some six weeks having passed without its 
appearing, or having received any food ; I had it taken out of the 
box, and brought into the parlour; — it was inanimate, and as round 
as a ball, its nose being buried as it were in the lower part of its 
abdomen, and covered by its tail — it was rolled over the carpet 
many times, but without effecting any apparent change in its 
lethargic condition, and being desirous to push the experiment as 
far as is in my power, I laid it close to the fire, and having ordered 
my dog to lie down by it, placed the Wood-Chuck in the dog’s lap. 
In about half an hour my pet slowly unrolled itself, raised its nose 
from the carpet, looked around for a few minutes, and then slowly 
crawled away from the dog, moving about the room as if in search 
of its own bed ! I took it up, and had it carried down stairs and 
rare. In the early springs that sometimes follow exceptionally mild winters, Woodchucks occa- 
sionally appear in P'ebruary, hut re-enter their burrows and again become dormant if the tempera- 
ture suddenly falls. In Southern New England they commonly remain out till late in October, and 
I have seen them in the Connecticut Valley even in November. 
