830 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sions, when one had escaped in the room, on placing a small apple 

 in the cage, the creature re-entered it almost at once. 



Very different was it with the red squirrels ; at first they en- 

 tered the trap, hut not afterward. They approached it, some- 

 times two or three together, ran round it on the upper rail of the 

 fence on which it was placed, or sat on top of it in short, did 

 everything but enter it all the while seeming to enjoy the whole 

 greatly. 



Having secured a couple of ground squirrels in the manner 

 described, I kept them under observation for the period during 

 which they survived, viz., one for about a month and the other 

 for between two and three months. From the first, one of them 

 seemed to take more kindly to his new surroundings than the 

 other; one appeared shy and dull, while his fellow seemed as 

 happy as any chipmunk might be. They were captured in Sep- 

 tember, and it has often occurred to me that their habit of hiber- 

 nation had something to do with the behavior of the one, though 

 we should expect that, in such a matter, both would be equally or 

 considerably affected. The degree to which, while retaining their 

 original habits, the latter became modified in confinement, fur- 

 nished me with an interesting study, and suggested many prob- 

 lems. My experience does not agree wholly with that of Audu- 

 bon and Bachmann, who say, in their " Quadrupeds of North 

 America," " We are doubtful whether this species can at any 

 time be perfectly tamed." The one of my chipmunks that sur- 

 vived longest became in a short time so tame that he would eat 

 from the hand, and even looked to be fed in this way. True, any 

 noise, or any unusual movement, might startle the creature, when 

 he would make the quick dart away so characteristic of the spe- 

 cies in the wild state. But from this he very quickly recovered, 

 and the tendency to be thus frightened grew less and less. The 

 authors referred to also state that " they appeared to have some 

 aversion to playing on a wheel, which is so favorite an amuse- 

 ment of the true squirrels." This does not at all agree with my 

 observations; for though at first my chipmunk was apt to be 

 startled when he found the revolver of his cage moving on his 

 entering it, he soon got used to it, and delighted in it as much as 

 any squirrel could in fact, he used it by night and by day, mani- 

 festing an ability to control it which speaks much for the readi- 

 ness with which such animals adapt themselves to new and diffi- 

 cult movements, and which shows how highly developed those 

 parts of the brain must be which are concerned in the balancing 

 and kindred functions. I may here correct another statement of 

 the same authors. They maintain that squirrels do not lap fluids 

 as the dog and cat. From repeated observations I know this to 

 be an error, at least so far as the ground squirrel is concerned. 



