240 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



i "^iX' 



THE CHIPMUNK 



Teacher's Story 



HILE the chipmunk is a good runner and jumper, 

 it is not so able a climber as is the red squirrel, 

 and it naturally stays nearer the ground. 

 One windy day I was struck by the peculiar 

 attitude of what, I first thought, was a red 

 ' squirrel gathering green acorns from a chestnut 

 oak in front of my window. A second glance 

 showed me that it was a chipmunk lying 

 close to the branch, hanging on for "dear life" 

 and with an attitude of extreme caution, quite 

 foreign to the red squirrel in a similar situation. It would creep out, 

 seize an acorn in its teeth, creep back to a larger limb, take off the shell, 

 and with its little paws stuff the kernel into its cheek pouches; it took 

 hold of one side of its mouth with one hand to stretch it out, as if open- 

 ing a bag, and stuffed the acorn in with the other. I do not know 

 whether this process was necessary or not at the beginning, for his cheeks 

 were distended when I first saw him; and he kept on stuffing them until 

 he looked as if he had a hopeless case of mumps. Then with obvious 

 care he descended the tree and retreated to his den in the side hill, the 

 door of which I had already discovered, although it was well hidden by 

 a bunch of orchard grass. 



Chipmunks are more easily tamed than red squirrels and soon learn 

 that pockets may contain nuts and other things good to eat. The first 

 tame chipmunk of my acquaintance belonged to a species found in the 

 California mountains. He was a beautiful little creature and loved to 

 play about his mistress' room; she being 

 a naturalist as well as a poet, was able 

 to understand her little companion, and 

 the relations between them were full of 

 mutual confidence. He was fond of 

 English walnuts and would always hide 

 away all that were placed in a dish on 

 the table. One day his mistress, when 

 taking off her bonnet after returning 

 from church, discovered several of these 

 nuts tucked safely in the velvet bows; 

 they were invisible from the front but 

 perfectly visible from the side. Even 

 yet, she wonders what the people at 

 church that day thought of her original 

 ideas in millinery; and she wonders 

 still more how "Chipsie" managed to 

 get into the bonnet-box, the cover of 

 which was always carefully closed. 



The chipmunk is a good home builder 

 and carries off, presumably in its cheek 

 pouches, all of the soil which it removes 

 in making its burrow. The burrow is 

 made usually in a dry hillside, the 



"Chipsie",a chipmunk of 

 the Sierras. 



