The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-08-07
PROPHETIC GR0UNDH0GS,
A CROSS BETWEEN A MOUSE AND
A MONKEY.
Their Habits, Home and Food and
How They Live Through the
Winter-slucerest OF Mammals.

y
looks around for its
shadow, if he sees it, which will natur-
ally be the case if the sun shines, he
returns to his underground hab1tatlon
tor 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. y But
it has great many other names be-
sides, In fact, people would seem to
have exhausted ingenuity III devlslnS
varied designations for the beast.
Linuaeus, the famous founder OF the
modern school of natural hlstor.r: en-
titled it "mus monax, which, being
interpreted, means cross between
mouse and monkey. The Canadian
French speak OF it AS the ''sit1ieur, or
''whistler." This is on account OF the
whistling noise which it sometimes
utters when startled. In the great
fur-bearing region about Hudson
Bay it answers to the name OF the
"thickwood badger" while to the
westward the hardy inhabitants OF
Alaska mean woodchuck when they
exclaim ''terbagan, 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 hill or>by
the side ofa big stone, making an eH-
cavation twenty or thirty feet long,
which deseends obliquely four OF five
feet, then gradually rising to large
round chamber, where the grounding
family sleeps and brings mp its young.
The little ones are born three to eight
at time. When the farmer, with his
horses and moving machine, chances
to slump into one of these holes, dis
appearing from view until excavsted
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 will
not kill them, for the fur is worthless
and the flesh by no means psiatable.
It is not true that in certain parts OF
the country farmers have found 1t
necessary to shovel paths through
grounahogs 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. TIE first rains that fall
copiously after hayins is over cause
the fresh green grass to spring mp
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 80 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 is the most remarkable
existing example of a hibernatlng
mammal. 1t lays up no store OF pro.
visions as the squirrel does. Its food
is Of such nature that it does not
keen, and so the grounding must
sleep TO save itself from starving. 1t
disappears with astonishing precision
within q few days of the sutumnal
equinox ar remains underground 1'n-
til about the time when the sun cuts
the plane of the equator at the vernal
equinox. Often the weather is very
warm when it retires, and it will cone
ont in March when snow IS on the
ground making long journeys to find
places where patches of the coveted
green grass has been laid bare by thaw
At the end of the winter the animal IS
thin and doubtless feels rather seedy,
having lived on its own tissues and
without subsistence for so long time.
During the term of Information
physical waste is reduced to very
low point, the hearts action slacken-
ing and the breathing becoming so
slight that it can only be detected by
delicate instruments. Even when
kept in a warm house through the
cold season a tame 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 wakefnlness, during which the
woodchuck goes abroad and gets Its
meals. The practice of alternating
is merely device of nature for en-
abling the animal to get along without
food at times when there is no food to
be had. Otherwise it 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. Porenplnes
have been used as fuel, fer which pur-
pose they are said to be superior 70
wood. Some time ago at the Wl!mot
mine in Minnesota the porcnplnes
came to be regarded as such n''l-
sance, being very numerous, that one