The Burgess Animal Book for Children

hing about his relatives. He was perfectly satisfied with things as they were. The truth is, Johnny Chuck was already beginning to get fat with good living and he is naturally lazy. As a rule he

uck would not dare dis

Mother Nature was about to open school. He didn't look at all happy, and he didn't reply at

, Johnny Chuc

s head and said,

learn. The more one knows the better fitted he is to take care of himself and do his part in the work of the Great World. However, it wasn't for your benefi

ld Mother Nature, "how surprised you little folks were when I told you that Johnny Chuck is a member of the Squirrel family. Happy Jack,

t caught the resemblance at once. There was sort of family look about t

ue Squirrels. But you will notice that the shape of his head is much the same as that of Happy Jack. He has a Squirrel face when you come to look at him closely. The Woodchucks, sometime

th he is reddish-orange, including his throat. His tail is short for a member of the Squirrel family, and although it is bushy, it is not very big. He has a number

ere are members of his family who prefer to live just on the edge of the Green Forest. You will notice that Johnny has stout cla

climb," replied

Rabbit. "Who ever heard

ts of times, and if I can get a good run first, I can climb up the straight trunk of a tree with rough

"You can climb a little, but as a real climber you ar

r Rabbit. "My, how he can make the sand fly! Johnny Chu

dug have saved your life more than once. By the way, Peter, since you are so well a

e tunnel grew smaller and then remained the same size all the rest of the way. Way down at the farther end was a nice little bedroom with some grass in it. There were one or two other little rooms, and there were two branch tunnels leading up to the s

the main doorway so that there would be nothing to attract the attention of any one p

e three doorways?"

two and once in a while only one. But that isn't re

use year after year?" p

nge of scene. Usually my new home isn't very far from my old one, because I am not fond of trave

that little bedroom in the g

ohnny Chuck. "Where el

a nest on the ground the way Mrs. Peter a

ittle underground bedroom, and they stay down in the ground

ly have?" inquired Cha

nny Chuck. "Mrs. Chuck and

e rest of our family?" i

s nothing so good as tender sweet clover and young grass, unless it

head very emphatically

y Jack, to which Johnny Chuck replied that he supposed he was. "

rrive, I stuff and stuff and stuff on the last of the good green things until I'm so fat I can hardly wadd

ourse I have a lot of food stored away down in my house, and once in a while

wish I did. That is where my fat comes in handy. It keeps me warm and keeps me alive until I can find the first green plants. Perhaps you have notice

er Rabbit, who has so many himself th

and of course, like all the rest of us little folks, I am afraid of Shadow the Weasel. Reddy Fox has tried to dig me out more than once, but I can dig faster than he can. If

and on the prairies of the Great West he has a smaller cousin named Yap Yap. They are quite important members of the Marmot family,

was a little ashamed that he had be

think I'll come. I didn't know I had any clo

-up the next morning, and then everybody started