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Drawn by C. E. Jolmsoii. 



SQUIRRELS AND CHIPMUNKS IN AUTUMN. 



In September, one can frequently associate some 

 stroll a-field, with a highly indignant red-squirrel, or 

 chipmunk, resenting intrusion in the midst of gather- 

 ing his autumn spoils. A number of prettily-striped, 

 ground-dwelling chipmunks, scampering over golden 

 leaves, makes a pleasmg picture indeed. 



A scene thus enacted, which lingers long in 

 memory, was witnessed, a few miles from the town 

 of Haliburton, in Haliburton District, Ontario. 



On a hardwood ridge, bordering a small lake, 

 innumerable chipmunks and red-squirrels, had con- 

 gregated to gather beech-nuts. Whenever the 

 weather was fine, they were to be seen at all hours 

 of the day, busily scampering over the fallen leaves. 

 Blue jays ate the nuts from the tree-tops, and par- 

 tridges came often to feed from the ground. A box- 

 trap revealed the presence of the deer or white- 

 footed mouse, which no doubt took nightly interest 

 in the bill-of-fare. White-tailed deer also came 

 quite frequently, in the early morning hours, to lick 

 up the fallen nuts. 



Of all these woodfolk, the chipmunks were 

 noisiest, and of particular interest. At intervals 

 throughout the sunny mornings and early after- 

 noons, they would break the silence with a musical 

 outburst, which made the woods fairly ring. This 

 would begin by some individual uttering the fam- 

 iliar "chuck" in rythmical succession. Nearly every 

 chipmunk within hearing distance, mounted stump 

 or log, and responded in unison for several minutes. 

 This outburst would finally subside to two or three 

 individuals; who, failing to receive a response to 

 prolonged "chucks", speedily fell to gathering nuts 

 again. The approach of colder weather, accom- 

 panied by a light snowfall in the last week of 

 October, suddenly put an end to their activities. 



In Elgin county one September morning, another 

 busy family group was observed, near the edge of a 

 hardwood bush, cutting hickory-nuts from three 

 trees. This group contained six squirrels; five black, 

 and one red. The blacks sometimes came through 

 the tree-tops, and at other times over the ground, and 

 returned by either route. One, which descended 

 with a nut was followed at a distance, and found 



to have cached five or six hickory-nuts, separately, 

 in the seams of a partially decayed log. I do not 

 remember distinctly whether these were hulled or 

 not. The red-squirrel in this instance worked har- 

 moniously with the blacks. A close watch revealed 

 its hiding place a hollow elm log close at hand. 

 Within was found about a half-bushel of hickory- 

 nuts, with hulls still on. I am inclined to believe 

 that this was only a temporary store-room; a sort 

 of handy hoarding place, to keep a share from fall- 

 ing to the blacks who had the advantage in numbers. 

 While watching these active occupations, a 

 racoon emerged from a hole, high up, in an adjacent 

 elm, to sun itself. 



An instance where a red-squirrel resented the in- 

 trusion of a black-squirrel, occurred in this same 

 bush, on a huge oak. The black-squirrel was first 

 noticed, making its way over the ground to the butt 

 of the tree. He quickly ascended, and, had reached 

 the upper branches, when a wrathful red-squirrel, 

 hitherto unnoticed, sprang to attack. Round and 

 round the trunk they went, the black punished un- 

 mercifully. Unable to withstand so furious an 

 onslaught, the black-squirrel rushed to the end of a 

 branch, and, took a wild and flying leap into the 

 next tree. Away he sped through the tree-tops, 

 leaving the victor to hurl his contempt in character- 

 istic red-squirrel fashion. Later he began storing 

 acorns in a hole high up within the oak. 



A few notes taken in different localities, furnish 

 an interesting array of autumn focd-stuffs. 



On Mount Saint Anne, Quebec, in October, a 

 red-squirrel was seen tucking the disk of a mush- 

 room in the forked branch of a tree. Several up the 

 Ottawa river last year, were busily cutting cones 

 from the conifers, in the last week of September. 

 A red-squirrel near St. Thomas, Ontario, had stored 

 a butternut crop within the hollow trunk of the tree 

 which bore them, and a white-footed mouse, in the 

 same locality, had a tiny store of American linden 

 or basswood seeds, under a log, beneath a brush- 

 pile. 



C. E. Johnson, Ottawa. 



