. Familiar life in field and forest; the animals, birds, frogs, and salamanders . if he is given the chance, for the simple reason thatit has been well seasoned with salt water from theice-cream freezer. He does not hibernate like thewoodchuck, but goes abroad both winter and summeron the coldest and hottest nights. He is also a strictvegetarian, feeding on succulentbark, the foliage and twigs oftrees, buds, and beechnuts;but he is always ready tognaw a house down if it con-tains a grain of salt; and inthe dead of the night he at-tacks the woodshed doorwith the vim of a rat andten times as muc
. Familiar life in field and forest; the animals, birds, frogs, and salamanders . if he is given the chance, for the simple reason thatit has been well seasoned with salt water from theice-cream freezer. He does not hibernate like thewoodchuck, but goes abroad both winter and summeron the coldest and hottest nights. He is also a strictvegetarian, feeding on succulentbark, the foliage and twigs oftrees, buds, and beechnuts;but he is always ready tognaw a house down if it con-tains a grain of salt; and inthe dead of the night he at-tacks the woodshed doorwith the vim of a rat andten times as much assur-ance, for he can not bedriven away with thethundering clatter of oldboots and sticks of woodJSTine times in ten he willcontinue to gnaw until some one opens the doorand clubs him away with a respectable-sized piece ofcord wood; there is but one thing he heeds, all elsefails, that is the firecracker ! Of this mysterious in-vention of a refined civilization he is suspicious;probably the fiery spluttering more than the noiseawakens in his dull mind some sense of a danger. u He is alwaysready to gnawa house against the partition. A NIGHTLY PROWLER. 257 from which his quills afford no protection, so hemoves off. I once captured one in my wood shed, which hadbusied himself for several nights previous by alteringthe contours of the house and the ice-cream was night, I had no heart to kill the creature, so hewas left till mornino; under an inverted wash next day, after furnishing the family with someentertainment by his enticing looks, queer whiningnoises (he had a shrill cry), and loudly chatteringteeth, he was invited to move on with the aid of ashovel and was dispatched by the farm hand. Heweighed fully sixteen pounds. His back was broad,his tail flattened and heavy, and his feet naked like abears. His claws were large and curved, and thesewith his peculiar tail showed very plainly that itwas not difficult for him to climb a tree. This pon-derous ta
Size: 1373px × 1820px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorma, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectzoology
