Mikhail Zoshchenko
In the course of later years we witness a heightened interest to the so-called "Gopher Day". It is quite an ancient belief that the earliness of spring depends on a gopher coming out and seeing or not-seeing his shadow. It is possible that it roots from times of Ancient Rome when augur priests predicted the nature of the upcoming weather judging from the first appearance of a hedgehog after winter dormation period. If a hedgehog (nowadays a gopher) sees his own shadow, the spring will come early, otherwise it will not come soon. As there are no hedgehogs in American fauna, a gopher was chosen as a "substitute". It is possible that in a comparatively warm and mild climate of the East of the USA a gopher is really able to come out of his den in February, though in this case his role as of a weather forecaster is quite dubious.
