Evening star., 1914-02-14

It's appearance is familiar to most peo-
pie, but it is not so generally known that
this clumsy, short-legged. short-tailed In
habitant of underground burrows is a
member of the squirrel family. as is the
prairie dog of the western plains.
Unlike the bear. the woodchuck is cx-
clusively vegetarian in diet. favorfte
food is red clover, but it also eats ap-
pies berries, grass, growing grain. nuts
bark and tender twigS of trees and
shrubs: and it seems to have peculiar
fondness for the green leaves and twtgs
of the sassafras. During the spring and
early summer these animals wander
about, when their family duties permit
and consume great quantities Of food.
By September they have become very
fat, and instead Of going out two or
three times a day to feed they probably
do not go out more than once, and when
the days become chill, not that often.
The time at which they begin to hiber-
nate doubtless varies with the locality
and the individual animal. In southern
Indiana, where most of my own observa-
tons have been made. they retire about
the end of October. Or when the acorns
and beech nuts are falling and the for
ests red and gold is giving way to
brown.
AS to the condition Of the animal dur
ing its long period of torpor. know
nothing. 1t is said to retire to lateral
chamber in It's burrow where 1t shuts
out the cold air by filing the entrance
with earth. There 1t remains for about
five months. eating nothing. probably
very cold and with It's circulation and
respiration reduced to a minimum.
In many parts of the country there ex-
lists a curious superstition q know no
better name for iO that the ground
hog comes out from his winters sleep
February 2, and if the sun shines forth
so that he can see his shadow he will
retire to his hole and stay there six
weeks longer, and there will be six weeks
more of winter weather. There Is doubt
less some connection between this date
and Candlemas day. for here is a stanza
of an old poem, the origin Of which l do
not know, that begins:
II Candlemas be fair and bright
Then winter will take another flight.
How the ground hog came to be con-
nected with Candlemas remains a mys-
terry The late Prof. Otis T. Mason OF the
Smithsonian Institution, an authority on
American folk lore, told me few years
ago that he had no idea where the
"groundhog day" fable originated. and
he also stated that 1t is. or was, un-
known south Of Mason and Dixon's line.
Ground Hog Day.
There has been a dispute In some quar-
ters as to whether "ground-hog day" Is
really the I'd day of February or the 3d.
To settle the matter, bill was intro
duced into the legislature of a certain
state quarter of century ago to ap-
proprate $1,000 to defray the expenses of
a scientific commission that should in
vestigate the matter and settle the dis
pute for all time The bill did not be-
come a law. Perhaps it Is on this ac-
count that the perverse ground hog
refuses to come out on either of these
dates. The exact time of awakening
from his prolonged sleep probably de-
pends somewhat upon the temperature,
but this remains to be proved. The
earliest that l have known ground hogs
to come out was the third week in Feb
ruary In the extremely warm season of
1907 in the region already referred to-
southern Indiana. They seemed all to
emerge at about the same time for
saw a number of places where earth was
thrown out Of their holes and their tracks
were left in the soft clay, although 1t
was two weeks later before l saw any
of the animals, for they are extremely
wary and active at this season. When
they first break their long fast they are
very thin and eat twigs. grass or almost
any tender herbage that can be found.
Perhaps 1t is on this account that they
paw no attention to cold when once out.
In the year In question we had cold
weather and several inches Of snow about
two weeks after / noted the first signs Of
woodchucks: but 1t failed to keep them
in. Mating time is then at hand and
this. no doubt. is an additional incentive
for them to remain active