News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1888-11-22
THE WOODCHUCK'S BURROW.
Ending in n Spacious Room Thirty
Feet From the Entrance.

Many years ago, during my boyhood
days, which were mostly spent in happy
old New England, l did my share of
both shooting and trapping woodchucks,
and even helped eat a roasted one on an
occasion. But 1 also did more than
this, for several times 1 had them as
pets, and closely studied their habits in
nature and in confinement.
Through some parts of the State of
Connecticut it would be hard to pick
not have O woodchuck burrow in some
part of il. Sometimes they choose q
site somewhere under the stone wall
which surrounds the field, or if there is
large rock, as is often the case, any
where about the middle of the field, the
animal will burrow under this as very
choice location.
Finally, the roots of an old apple or
other tree are often chosen for its
stronghold, the burrow being dug down
among them, the owner seeming to
possess a realizing sense that no one
would ever dream of attempting to dis
lodge him from such quarters. AS is
the case with the excavations made for
their habitation by most fossorial man.
mails, the burrow of a woodchuck at first
descends obliquely into the earth, then
passes nearly horizontally for several
feet, rises moderately for the last half of
its length to terminate in quite a
spacious and round chamber, which
constitutes the "liying room" of the
entire family. In it the female brings
forth her litter, and the young remain
there until they pair off and dig their
own homes elsewhere.
Such a burrow may be at lenst thirty
feet in length-so long that one never
thinks of digging a woodchuck out-but
l have seen farmers bring up two or
three barrels of water on n cart and
drown the occupants of this subter-
ranean establishment at short notice,
and rejoice most heartily if the pair, and
perhaps seven or eight quarter grown
young, are caught in at the same time.
Very often | have captured them in
steel traps set 1T the mouth of the bur
row, taking the precautiOn to sprinkle
it all carefully over with fine dirt. One
old woodchuck, | remember, construct
ed his burrow almost in the centre of O
twenty acre clover lot, and every attempt
to capture him in any kind of q trap
utterly failed. 1t was the rarest thing
in the world to even catch him standing
up at the entrance of his burrow during
the day, but frequently we would see
him just head and shoulders out of it.
1t seems to me | must have fired thirty
or forty times at him under such cir
cumstances from the outer side of the
stone wall which surrounded the field,
and that. too, with heavy old-fasbion-
ed muzzle-loading Kentucky rifle,
which, at seventy-five to one hundred
yards, was good nearly every time for
all small game. But here every shot
failed; cloud of dust would puff up at
the very entrance of the burrow each
time, and L would confidently walk over
to pick him out, but no, next day at
noon he was there again, looking out as
smiling as ever. He was captured
finally by my tying Colts revolver to
stout stake driven down within a few
feet of the burrow and training the aim
down the entrance, and then tying a
long string to the trigger L waited be-
hind the wall till he again showed him
self, when tho success of the dovice
sealed his doom.-FiO7est and Stream.