4.H 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



munks, or " ground-squirrels," as they are more commonly called. 

 From the fact of these little animals living wholly underground, and 

 it being stated that their underground homes were quite elaborate in 

 structure, we determined to wait until the pair in our yard had com- 

 pleted their excavations in and under the stone-wall, and arranged 



Fig. 1. -American "Chipmunk" (Tamias Lysteri), baj^ Natural Si'.e. 



their nest, which time we judged by their actions, and then seeking 

 out the home of another couple, which was readily accessible, we un- 

 dertook 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 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 intervening 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 twenty inches in length (the cut makes it appear too large), 

 and ten inches in height. It was lined with very fine grass. We 



