A greyhound would be appropriate . . . we have no animals, alas, but I have a long wish list, including a little donkey to help me pull loads around the courtyard. I’d also like a dovecote,but the red-shouldered hawks would doubtless make short work of the doves . . .

I hope Ruby hasn’t taken on any more porcupines . . .

Deirdre

Although woodchucks will raid gardens, they subsist mostly on grasses. Our woodchucks are related to the marmots of Mongolia and Siberia, and to the mountain marmots of the Alps, but they don’t correspond to any animal in the medieval bestiary.

I’ve never seen a chipmunk up a juniper tree, but will keep my eyes open.

Fortunately for us, there is a stone wall twenty-five feet tall between our woodchuck and Bonnefont Cloister. Woodchucks are a bigger problem in the Heather Garden located in Fort Tryon Park than they are for us. I’m aware of how much damage woodchucks can wreak, and that they are regularly shot on sight in agricultural contexts. Most of the information I found on their habits was included in bulletins devoted to their extermination, but the link in the post above had a few good words to say about their role in turning and enriching soil. And they do eat crabgrass and plaintain . . .

Once mating season is over, and the kits have left the maternal burrow, woodchucks live alone. They aren’t as prolific as some rodents, and have one litter a year.

I am not surprised that woodchucks are occasionally arboreal. I was amazed recently to see chipmunks climb up a juniper tree to a height of about 15′ and eat juniper berries. I thought they, too, were ground dwellers.

Of course, medieval gardeners didn’t need to worry about woodchucks or chipmunks: both are native North American species only.