. The American natural history : a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America . Natural history. THE WOODCHUCK 79 prairie-" dog," and it is seldom that anyone speaks well of him. His favorite home is a burrow in a gravelly hillside in a "swamp lot," •or woods pasture, and while he likes to come out and bask in the warm sunshine, he never ventures far from his front door. In the autumn, instead of storing up vegeta- bles for winter, he takes on a quantity of fat, under his skin. Early in November he blithely goes to sleep in his burrow, and does no
. The American natural history : a foundation of useful knowledge of the higher animals of North America . Natural history. THE WOODCHUCK 79 prairie-" dog," and it is seldom that anyone speaks well of him. His favorite home is a burrow in a gravelly hillside in a "swamp lot," •or woods pasture, and while he likes to come out and bask in the warm sunshine, he never ventures far from his front door. In the autumn, instead of storing up vegeta- bles for winter, he takes on a quantity of fat, under his skin. Early in November he blithely goes to sleep in his burrow, and does not waken York to Georgia, and westward to Kansas and South Dakota. A much larger species called the Gray Mar- mot,1 or Whistler (22 + 7 inches), is an im- portant northwestern form, strongly marked by its light, grizzly-gray color, with certain dark markings. It is found from the Columbia River northward to about 63° North Latitude and eastward to Hudson Bay. It derives one of its names from the fact that its alarm cry consists of. WOODCHUCK. until February 2,—"Ground-Hog ; Then, —so runs the popular legend,—he emerges, and looks about him. If he sees his shadow, he again retires to his burrow, and sleeps six weeks longer, —which betokens a cold, wintry spring. The eastern Woodchuck is a typical marmot, short-legged, heavy-bodied, flat-headed, and brownish gray in color. The length of its head and body is 14 inches, and of its tail 5 inches. It inhabits the eastern United States from New a shrill whistle, which is repeated by the various members of the colony threatened with danger. The Yellow-Bellied Marmot,2 easily distin- guished by the bright red hair on its under parts, is a southern species, found in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. High up, on the Olym- pic Mountains of western Washington, is found still another species of marmot, as large as the 1 Mar-mo'ta pru-in-o'sus. 2 Mar-mo'ta fiav'i-ven-ter. Laboratory of Ornithology 259 Sapsucke
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