Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1895-08-07
PROPHETIC GROUNDnOGS
A CROSS BETWEEN A MOUSE AND
A MONKEY.
Their Habits, Home and Food and
How They Live Through the
WinterAQueerest Of Mammals.

shadow. if he sees it, which will nstur-
ally be the case if the sun shines, he
returns to his underground habitation
Tor another long rest, being convinced
that winter is destined to linger IN the
lap of the forthcoming spring.
This interesting animal is equally
well known as the ''woodchuck." But
it has a 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 il ''mus monax," which, being
interpreted, means a cross between a
and a monkey. The Canadian
French speak Of it as the "sifieur,' or
'swhistler." 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 to the name OF h
'sthickwood 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- hilloe-kooay."
The ANIMALS habits do not vary with
the multitude of his titles. He lives
in a burrow remarkable for its extent
1t is dug in the slope of a hill or by
the side of n big stene, making an ex-
~cavation twenty or thirty feet long,
which descends obliquely four or five
feet, then gradually rising to a large
round chamber, where the grounding
family sleeps and brings up its young.
The little mes are born three to eight
at a time. When the farmer, with his
horses and moving machine, chances
TO slump into n of these holes, dis
appearing from view until excavated
by charitable neighbors, he is apt to
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 in New Hampshire and
other States, as much as ten cents for
each tail being paid. Hunters viii
not kill them, for the fur is worthless
and the flesh by no means palatable.
IT is not true that in certain parts OF
the country farmers have found 1t
necessary to shovel paths through
groundhogs in over to reach their
barns.
Save in the way just mentioned, the
woodchuck does little Dr. no harm to
anybody. He is strictly a 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
the fresh green grass to spring up
anew. This second crop in many.
places consists largely of red clover
which the grounding regardsa as a most
| delightful delicacy. 1t eats so much
during the latter part of August and,
the first half of the following moni(
that it becomes exceedingly fat
inert. About September 30 or a
later it goes into winter quarters, d
it does not come out again to stay ID
til the middle Of March.
This creature isthe most remarkable
existing example of a hibernatingN
mammal. 1t lays up no store OF pro-
visions as the squirrel does. Its food
is of such q nature that it does not
keep, and so the grounding must
sleep TO save itself from starving. Ii
disappears with astonishing precision
within a few days Of the autumnal
equinox ard remains underground I'M
til about the time when the sun cuts
the plane of the equator at the vernal
eqainox. Often the weather is very
warm when it %retires, and it will come
out in March when snow is on the
ground making long journeys to lind
places where patches of the coveted
green grass has been laid bare bythaw.
At the end of the winter the animal IS
thin and doubtless feels rather seedy,
having Ii ved on its own tissues and
without subsistence for 50 long a time.
During the term of Information
pbysical waste is reduced to a very
low point, the hearts action slacken-
ing and the breathing becoming 80
slight that it can only be detected by
delicate instruments. Even when
kept in a warm house through the
cold season atame grounding becomes
torpid at the usual date and remains
so until the hereditary habit has been
carried TO the customary term. In
| this latitude the Information OF the
animal is not so complete as farther
north, and a few hundred miles far
ther south it is interrupted by periods
of wakefulness, during which the
w~oodchuck goes abroad and gets its
meals. The practice OF alternating
is merely a device of nature for en-
abling the animal to get along without
food at times when there is nc food to
be had. Otherwise il would perish
and the species would become extinct:
No use for the grounding worth
mentioning has ever been discovered.
Ii is otherwise with another queer
mammal-the porcupine. Porcupines
have been used as fuel, for which pur-
pose they are said to be superior TO
wood. Some time ago at the Wilmot
mine in Minnesota the porcupines
came 20 be regarded as such a nui-
sance, being very numerous, that n
day the foreman threw a couple Of
dead ones tito the fireplace Of the
steam drill. TO his surprise thestean
and up to eighty pounds in a short
time. From that time on the miners
were instructed 70 kill and brbg In
every p~orcupine they could catch for
use in the furnace. Such, at ell
events, is the story. Washington Star.