Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-28
A WOOD CHUCK'S WAYS
WHAT SHE DID AFTER AN ALL
WINTERS SLEEP.
Habits of the Animal Which Boys Love
to Hunt With Dog
ana Gun.

Written for The Evening Star.
Very early last spring woodchuck poked
her black nose from the mouth OF the bur-
row in which she had spent the winter and
blinked her little round black eyes in the
sunlight. Then she came out, and lay
basking on the mound of hard earth before
her doorway She looked very weak and
she was certainly dreadfully thin. Her
grizzled pelt hung loosely on her bonY
frame, and when she moved 1t was with a
languor not usually observed in wool
chucks. The fact is that she had but just
awakened from an all-winter sleep, and as
she had tasted since the previous October'
she was not only drowsy, but famlshed.
But perhaps 1t was disuse as much as any
thing else which caused the evident weak
ness of her limbs, for as she moved ABOUT
a little stretching herself in different d1-
rections it could be seen that she was gam
ing strength with every movement. by and
by she turned around, and, putting her
head and shoulders into the burroW, began
raking out, with her forepaws, all the
earth leaves and grass with which she had
blocked the entrance in the fall. With this
rubbish came many living things-bIac'<
beetles, a hornet and a large green frog,
all of which had been sleeping away the
winter at the woodchucks door.
Foraging.
After she had made a neat pile in front
of the burrow and covered it up with fresh
loan from the tunnel itself, the woodchuek
had strength to go off in search of some
food. There was very little to get just
then, for the winter had barely gone, but
she found little patch of green clover on
the sunny side of q large rock, TUT CT
two of coarse grass near spring, and with
these and few mouthfuls of bark from a
nearby tree, she managed to make mol
crate breakfast. Then she returned to the
bUrroW, and stayed there for two days.
BY that time the grass had grown conSi1-
erably and the woodchuck had less diff
Guilty in getting a meal. And every morn
ing after food became more plentiful; the
clover appeared In larger and thicker
patches, and gradually the wrinkles in the
grizzled skin of the grounding began to
disappear.
The Hunter and His Dog.
One morning, after the little rodent had
had her morning meal of clover, and she
was taking a sun bath on the mound Of
earth in front of her doorway, some small
object struck the mound about six inches
in front of her face, and threw a pinch of
the dirt sharply in her eyes. She did not
know what the trouble was, and she did
not stop to find out, but pitched headfrst
into the burrow and stayed there. AS she
disappeared a small boy. brandiShing a
ioDeFL FlIle, ana followed by niue yei-
low dog, jumped from behind a hilock and
ran up to see how near he had come to the
chuck. He pulled a grimace when he saw
where his bullet had pitted the earth, re-
loaded his weapon and went back to his
hiding place. But the woodchuck, not
being quite a fool, remained where she was
safe until the boy became tired of waiting
and came back to the hole, the yellow dog
still at his heels. The boy now picked up
the dog and put it's nose to the mouth of
the burrow, and after a few words of en-
couragement the cur, which had more as
surance than wisdom, plunged into the
black hole. The boy sat down on the
mound of earth and yelled "Sic 'em,
Prince" and for about a minute no doubt
Prince was doing he was bid. After
that it seemed that the woodchuck did
most of the Sticking" for the dog backed
out of the burroW with two terrible cuts
on his head, and bowling in a most I'M
princely manner. Then, tucking his tail as
far between his legs as he could get 1t, he
made for home by short cut, and at his
very best pace.
With Five Little Ones.
Not long after the woodchuck appeared
at the mouth of the burrow with a family
of five little ones. They had been born
some time before, but this was their first
appearance in the open They were pretty,
dark-eyed, soft-coated little fellows, ready
to tOpple back again out of sight at a sign
from their mother. Every morning now
the whole family might have been seen
moving through the grass to the spots
where the clover grew the thickest For
short time they lived in peace, but one
evening they made themselves a powerful
enemy by journeying into the next field
and eating off, close to the ground. three
long rows of young peas. The owner of
the peas said very little, but he drove to
town and brought back a stick of dvna-
% thrust ia into
A minute later there was a muffied BOOM
and the farmer went off, satisfied that he
would not be bothered again by that family
of woodchucks. But in the evening a eau
tiouS gray head was thrust from the mouth
of the hole, and soon our old woodchuck
crawled from her home and made off slow
~ across the field
Result of Dynamite and Gun.
The dynamite had killed the young ones,
but their mother had only been stunned.
She went directly to an old burrow which
she had occupied two years before, and next
morning there was a large heap of fresh
earth in front of it. She lived there quietly
until the latter part of the summer, when,
after an absence somewhat longer
than usual, she found the entrance to her
home barred by a snarling black head with
a white stripe down the front. The prem
Uses had been seized by a skunk, and the
Woodchuck was opiseu TO seek a residence
elsewhere. She started to dig a fresh tun-
mel on the other side of the field and for
hours she threw out the soil with her strong
claws. The following afternoon she was
still at work, when the figure of a man in
brown overalls crept under the brow of the
hill and lay down behind rock atsthe top.
For half an hour the woodchuck worked
on, and at last she appeared at the doorway
for breathing spell. little curl of white
smoke leaped from behind the rock, there
was a sharp report and the woodchuck
dropped back into newly made grave,
Money Invested in Printing.