Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-03-28
b. -

1
further period Of hibernation. There he still
remains. according to last accounts,
All the same Gen. Greedy Of the signal serv-
ice has no faith IN the grounding as meteorOl-
ogist. Said he yesterday to a SrAR reporter
who called upon him:
II for one, do not believe that the lower AMI
mails are wiser than man about the weather.
The supposition that muskrsts build their
winter quarters differently when the cold il 20
be very intense is popular delusion and the
same may be said OF the alleged habit adopted
by slairrels of putting away greater store of
nuts under like circumstances. Doubtless the
grounding comes oct Of its hole when there is
warmth enough TO thaw it out and not
4 before"
SCIENTISTS DON'T EsTpusE cvKR rHn GROUND
| HoG.
Among the scientific men not much enthu-
siasn was felt respecting the grounding.
There is no telling where the superstition
started" said DIR. q. Brown Goode Its
origin is too far back. For all that any one
knows the belief was held in ancient pagan
days: IL Is common in Europe well as in this
| country
Said Librarian SpoGord:
! There is no legendary lore respecting the
snimel beyond the belief that il comes out Of
/ ITS hole ON the day You mention and goes back
again tor an extra sleep II tie sun shines. The
superstition prevails all over Europe that good
weather on the - of February indicates a
long continuance Of winter and rad crops 10
| come. while foul weather is good omeu.'
Neither OstcOlogist Lucas nor Anthropologist
Mason OF the Smithsonian Institution possessed
| any acquaintance worth mentioning with
groundhogs, although they disclaimed any
disrespectful sentiments with relation 10 the
beasts faculty of vaticination.
PROVERBS RELATING TO THE SUBJECT
So the STAR man looked mp the creature in
| various books and he managed to find two or
three proverbs relating to the subject One
was German, and it said that a shepherd
would rather see wolf enter his stable on
Candlemas day than the sun" Another was
Scotch, though originally from the Latin. Ii
read:
Tbs G Cam s day K dry and s fir
II Condolences day be wet ana Ioai.
The half y winters sone at Yulc."
Mr.. True, curator of mammals at the Ma
tlonal Museum, was asked regarding the hiber-
mating habits of the grounding.
They all depend" he said, upon the lati-
tude The animal is common all the way from
Hudson S bay to North Carolina, and whereas
| In the far north it doubtless remains in COM
atose state all winter, farther south the hiber-
| nation is less complete; its term is shorter and
the beast comes out of its hole during spells of
| warm weather. As far down as North Carolina
| 1t is very likely that it does not hibernate to
any extent worth mentioning, though am not
| sure"
WHAT THE GRoUNDHoa Is
An inspection of the natural history book
showed that the grounding was a genus of the
squirrel order. 1t is from sixteen TO twenty
| inches long, without counting four inches OF
| tail. The body is .brownish gray above and
| reddish brown below and the feet and tail are
blackish brown. The animal is fond of sitting
erect as a squirrel does. and il assumes that at
| utude when eating. holding its food i'm its paNs
1t cleans and combs its fur like squirrel, lick
4 sx.era -.
of the day, when not alternating. il sleeps in
| its burrow, occasionally coming on: and taking
a look around. In the evening IL goes out 10
feed upon grass, well fruits and vegeta-
| bles, TO which it often does much damage. In
the daytime ii never goes far from its burrow
When angry or alarmed il makes a gurgling or
chattering noise with its mouth and sometimes
| il utters shril whistle. which has given il the
name among the French Canadians of the
''sitfieuT" or whistler. The bite of the ground
hog is severe and il will make desperate fight
| against dog. Its hide is tough and was for
meriy used for whip lashes. The fur is of no
value and the flesh is fabby and rank. though
\ the latter. when cooked like roast pig, can be
eaten by person who has 4 first-rate appetite.
WHEN IT BECOMES TORPID.
The grounding. or "woodchuck," as it is
more commonly called in the north, becomes
torpid during the latter part of October in
| Maryland. Unlike the other varieties of mar
mot, il is not gregRrious in its habits each
| family keeping to itself. 1t burrows on the
| slope of a hill or by the side OF big stone.
making an excavation twenty or thirty feet
long, which descends obliquely four or i've
feet. then gradually rising to n large round
chamber where the grounding family sleeps
and brings up its young. The little ones arc
| born three to eight at a time. New England
farmers make practice of drowning ground
| hogs out with water. One story was found
of a wOodchuck that was kept tame in akitchen.
| making its bed in box full of straw in a warm
| corner. Nevertheless, when the cold season ar
rived it curled itself mp with its little nose in It's
stomach and thus composed itself for a winters
sleep. Some weeks later il was put on the
| foor By the fire and gradually thawed out, but,
when put back in its box. il went asleep again
| for six weeks more the burrows of the ground
hog are always SO constructed that no water
can flood them
Aproyerb is:
| ..As far the sun shin as on candlemas day.
So Iac will the SNOW blow in afLre MAY