Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1894-03-16
PROPHETIC GR0UNDH0GS.
A CROSS BETWEEN A MOUSE AND
A MONKEY.
Their Habits, Home and Food and
How They Live Through the
Winter--Queerest of Mammals.

ally De tne case II the sun SHINES, he
returns to his underground habitation
for another long rest, being convinced
that winter is destined to linger in the
lap of the forthcoming spring.
This interesting animal is equally
we'll known as the "woodchuck." But
it has great many other names be-
sides In fact, people would seem to
have exhausted ingenuity in devising
varied designations for the beast.
Linuaeus, the famous founder of the
modern school of natural history, en-
titled it "mus monax," which, being
interpreted, means cross between a
mouse and q monkey. The Canadian
French speak of it as the "siffieur," or
"whistler." This is on account of the
whistling noise which it sometimes
utters when startled. In the great
fur bearing region about Hudson's
Bay it answers to the name of the
"thickwood badger" while to the
westward the hardy inhabitants of
Alaska mean woodchuck when they
exclaim ''tarbagan," and the wild
Chippewas Likewise when they grunt
''kath lloekooay.
The ANIMALS habits do not vary with
the multitude of his titles. He lives
in burrow remarkable for its extent.
1t is dug in the slope of hill or by
the side of a big stone, making an ex-
cavation twenty or thirty feet long,
which descends obliquely four or five
feet, then gradually rising to large
round chamber, where the grounding
family sleeps and brings up it's young.
The little ones are born three to eight
at time. When the faEYer, with his
horses and moving machine, chances
to slump into one of these holes, dis
appearing from view until excavated
feel annoyed and to revile the whole
woodchuck tribe with discrimination.
1t is largely On this account that
bounties for killing the creatures have
been offered III New Hampshire and
other States, as much as ten cents for
each tai being paid Hunters will
not kill them, for the fur is worthless
and the flesh by no means palatable.
1t is not true that in certain parts of
the country farmers have found it
necessary to shovel paths through
groundhogs in over to reach their
barns.
Save in the way just mentioned, the
woodchuck does little or no harm to
anybody. He is strictly vegetarian,
feeding mostly on clover and grass.
Rarely does he enter the garden, pre-
ferring the open meadows and rocky
hillsides The first rains that fall
copiously after haying is over cause
the fresh green grass to spring up
anew. This second crop in many
places consists largely of red clover,
which the grounding regards as most
delightful delicacy. 1t eats SO much
during the latter part of August and
the first half of the following month
that it becomes exceedingly fat and
inert. About September 30 or little
later it goes into winter quarters, and
it does not come out again to stay un-
til the middle of March.
This creature isthe most remarkable
existing example OF hibernating
mammal. 1t lays mp no store of pro-
visions as the squirrel does Its food
is OF such II nature that 1t does not
keep, and so the grounding must
sleep to save itself from starving 1t
disappears with astonishing precision
within few days of the autumnal
equinox ard remains underground un.
til about the time when the sun cuts
the plane of the equator at the yernal
equinox. Often the weather is very
warm when IT retires, and II will come
out in March when snow Is on the
ground making long Journeys 10 find
places whore patches of the coveted
green grass has been laid bare by thaw.
At the end uf the winter the animal is
thin aud doubtless feels rather seedy,
having lived ON its own tissues aud
without subsistence for So long time.
During the term of hlbernation
physical waste Is reduced O. a very
low point, the hearts action slaeken-
ing aud the breathing becoming SO
SLIGHT that h can only be detected by
delicate instruments. tyen when
kept in warm house through the
euld season a tame grouadhug becomes
tnrpid AZ the usual ,lAte aud remains
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