436 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



munks, we have no doubt, as early in August we dug out a nest be- 

 neath 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, there- 

 fore, that these "magazines" were dug out by the chipmunks late in 

 the summer, and similar ones, no doubt, were excavated by the chip- 

 munks 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. In- 

 stead 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 distance, for them, and, 

 filling both cheek-pouches full of corn, chincapins (dwarf chestnuts), 

 and small acorns, home they would hurry, looking, in the face, like 

 children with the mumps. This storing away of food was continued 

 until the first heavy white frosts, when the chipmunks, as a member 

 of Congress once said, went " into a state of retiracy." 



The food gathered, we believe, is consumed in part, on their going 

 into winter-quarters, they spending some time in their retreats before 

 commencing their hibernating sleep. This belief, on our part, is 

 based on the result of digging out a third nest on the 3d of Novem- 

 ber. The last time we noted down seeing a chipmunk belonging to 

 a certain nest was October 22d. Twelve days after we very carefully 

 closed the three passages that led to the nest, and dug down. We 

 found four chipmunks very cozily fixed for winter, in a roomy nest, 

 and all of them thoroughly wide awake. Their store of provisions 

 was wholly chestnuts and acorns, and the shells of these nuts were all 

 pushed into one of the passages, so that there should be no litter 

 mingled with the soft hay that lined the nest. How long this under- 

 ground life lasts, before hibernation really commences, it is difficult 

 to determine ; but as this torpid state does not continue until their 

 food-supply is again obtainable out-of-doors, the chipmunks, no doubt, 

 store away sufficient for their needs throughout the early spring, and 

 perhajjs until berries are ripe. 



So much for the present year, now nearly passed away ; but we are 

 not done with the chipmunks yet, and next year, if all goes well, we 

 purpose to follow the wanderings of the young brood of the past sum- 

 mer, for, we suppose, the old couple will not want them after spring 

 once fairly comes again this way. Science-; Gossip. 



