Woodchuck’s Hole
It is generally on the side of a hill or knoll, and in front of it is a small pile of earth which the woodchuck has taken out in his excavations. The hole is large enough for a small dog to enter, and leads to several tunnels, some of them twenty or twenty-five feet long. If you remain quietly near for awhile perhaps you will be rewarded by seeing the woodchuck, or ground-hog, as he is sometimes called, peep cautiously out of his front door and then come boldly forth to look about and see what is going on in the outer world. Make a sudden noise and he will sit up on his haunches with hanging forefeet, like a begging dog, and then dart into his hole to remain in hiding until it seems safe for him to venture out again.
Woodchuck and His Hole.
The woodchuck is a snub-nosed little animal, a trifle larger than a good-sized rabbit. Its tail is short and bushy and its hair long, coarse, and of a brownish color, ears low and inconspicuous, and eyes round and bright. At the approach of winter he retires to his nest, which is in a chamber at the farthest end of his longest tunnel, there to sleep or hibernate until spring. A popular legend has it that on the second day of February the ground-hog—he is always a ground-hog in this connection—is sure to be up and out to see how high the sun is and investigate the general progress of things.
You know the rest of the story; how he prophesies an early or late spring by his actions on this important day. If he stays out we will have an early spring; if he goes back we will have winter weather for six weeks longer; and his going and staying are determined by the sun. This is because the ground-hog is supposed to be absurdly afraid of his shadow, which he has not seen for so long, and if the bright sunshine reveals it to him he is said to return ignominiously to his hole, where he will remain for another six weeks. If, on the other hand, the day proves cloudy, and there are no shadows to alarm him, he concludes that he has slept quite long enough, that there will be no more winter, and that it is high time to be up and about his business.
The farmers hunt the woodchuck because of its voracious appetite for green things. They say it takes more than its share of the farm products, and they make forcible objections.
June is the time to find the baby woodchucks, which in this month play like puppies around the entrance to their home.
And now these few remaining pages must be devoted to our small neighbors of
The Sea-shore