FEB., 1912. MAMMALS OF ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN CORY. 131 



Illinois and Wisconsin: Total length, 271.5; tail vertebrae, 94.5; 



hind foot, 37.5 mm. 



Wooded localities, where underbrush abounds, about loose stone 

 walls and old logs, or in the vicinity of outbuildings, where there is 

 sufficient growth for concealment, is the chosen home of the Chipmunk. 

 It passes most of its life on the ground and in climbing about fallen 

 logs, fences and rocks, although it occasionally climbs large trees. It 

 is very active and industrious, and during the summer devotes a great 

 deal of its time to storing up food for winter use in its home, which is 

 usually a hole beneath a wall or old stump or an underground burrow. 

 While I am satisfied that it hibernates in winter, at least in this latitude, 

 its sleep is apparently not very profound and the length of time it 

 remains indoors depends largely upon the severity of the weather. 

 During a warm spell it occasionally ventures forth for an airing even 

 in midwinter, but as a rule it seeks its winter home shortly after the 

 first hard frost and is rarely seen again until late in February or March. 

 If undisturbed in the vicinity of dwellings, it soon becomes tame, and, 

 if watched, may often be seen hurrying away with its cheek pouches 

 distended with nuts or other food which it deposits in its storehouse 

 and shortly returns with empty cheeks ready for another load. When 

 suspicious of possible danger, but not actually frightened, it often sits 

 upright and repeatedly utters its sharp "chip," accompanying each 

 vocal effort by a slight twitch of its tail. 



While Chipmunks prefer nuts, acorns, seeds and grains for their 

 winter use, they eat almost anything, including small snakes, young 

 mice, birds' eggs and young birds when they can get them, as I 

 know from personal experience, having caught one in the act of attacking 

 a nest containing half fledged young robins. Mr. E. T. Seton quotes 

 a letter from Mr. William Brewster, the well-known Cambridge natural- 

 ist, who says, "While collecting at Crooked Lake, Michigan, in May, 

 1888, I shot at a wood thrush and broke its wing. As it fluttered over 

 the ground a Chipmunk pursued and caught it. When I reached the 

 spot the Chipmunk had killed the bird and eaten most of its brains. I 

 had to kick at the Chipmunk to make it give up the thrush. Afterward 

 as I held the bird dangling in my hand the Chipmunk approached and 

 jumped up, trying to snatch it from me." * 



The young are usually 4 or 5, and when born are without hair and 

 the eyes are closed. Kennicott says, "The quantity of nuts, acorns 

 and seeds sometimes collected by these industrious little fellows is 

 astonishing. They are frequently stored temporarily under logs, and 

 in shallow holes under roots of trees, and afterwards removed to the 



"Life Histories of Northern Animals, I, 1909, p. 355. 



