HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



37 



it being stated that their underground homes were 

 quite elaborate in structure, we determined to wait 

 until the pair in our yard had completed their 

 excavations in and under the stone wall, and arranged 

 their nest, which time we judged by their actions, 

 and then seeking out the home of another couple, 

 which was readily accessible, we undertook to 

 expose the nest and its approaches. This we did 

 on May 29th. The general character of the nest 

 and its approaches are seen in the sketch. The 



Fig. 24. Nest of American " Chip muck" (Tamias Lysteri). 



nest contained five young, not more than forty-eight 

 hours old. The two entrances were at the foot of a 

 large beech-tree standing about six feet from the 

 brow of the hill. The grass alone grew about the 

 tree, and the holes on the surface of the ground 

 were very conspicuous. No attempt at concealment 

 had been made; but this was evidently because there 

 is here almost a total absence of their particular 

 enemies. Animals soon learn this fact, and their 

 homes and habits vary with the knowledge. From 

 the right-hand entrance to the nest was an inter- 

 vening space of nine feet traversed by a cylindrical 

 passage somewhat serpentine in its course, which 

 made the distance really about twelve feet. The 



nest itself was oval, 'about 20 inches in length 

 (the cut makes it appear too large) and 10 inches in 

 height. It was lined with very fine grass. We had 

 hoped to find several passages leading from the nest, 

 and two or more " extra " nests, or magazines for 

 storing away food, but no trace of them was to be 

 found. 



On the 23rd of June, six young chip-mucks made 

 their appearance, about the stone wall in the yard, 

 and to these, with their parents, we will now con- 

 fine our attention. It puzzles us now, when we 

 think of it, to imagine when this company of eight 

 chip-mucks took any rest. Very frequently during 

 the summer we were astir at sunrise, but the chip- 

 mucks were already on the go, and throughout July 

 they appeared to do little but play ; which sporting 9 

 by the way, is very animated. They seem to be 

 playing at what children know as " tag," i. e., they 

 chase each other to and fro, and try, we should 

 judge, to bite each others' tails. The way in which 

 they scamper along the tapering points of a paling 

 fence is simply astonishing ; but however mad may 

 be their galloping, let a hawk come near, and in a 

 moment every one is motionless. If on a fence, 

 they simply squat wherever they may be at the time, 

 and trust to remaining unnoticed. If on the ground 

 and not too far from their burrows, which is not 

 often the case, they will dart to their nests with an 

 incredible celerity, going, we believe, the whole 

 length of their passage-way to the nest, turning 

 about, and retracing their steps to the entrance, 

 from which they will peer out, and, when the danger 

 is over, reappear and recommence their sports. 

 These little animals play merely for play's sake, 

 and have no more important object in view than 

 amusement. Indeed, so far as we have studied 

 animal life, this indulgence in play, just as children 

 play, and for the same reasons, is common to all 

 animals. We have often seen most animated move- 

 ments on the part of fishes that could be referred 

 only to play. 



That some work was accomplished during July 

 by our eight chip-mucks, we have no doubt, as early 

 in August we dug out a nest beneath an oak, on the 

 hill-side, and we found, besides the nest proper, two 

 nest-like cavities, and in one of which — that most 

 distant from the nest— was about a quart of yellow 

 corn (maize). We judge, therefore, that these 

 "magazines" were dug out by the chip-mucks late 

 in the summer, and similar ones, no doubt, were ex- 

 cavated by the chip-mucks in the stone wall. What 

 they did with the dirt we cannot guess. Certainly 

 not a particle of it could be found about their nests' 

 entrances. 



About August 15th they commenced to work in 

 real earnest. Instead of playful, careless creatures, 

 that lived from hand to mouth, they became very 

 sober and busy indeed. Instead of keeping com- 

 paratively near home, they wandered to quite a dis- 



