Common Chipmunk 345 



track to see where he had gone. He had passed through my 

 wood pile, then under the beehives, then around the study 

 and under some spruces, and along the slope to the hole of 

 a friend of his, about sixty yards from his own. Apparently he 

 had gone in here, and then his friend had come forth with him. 

 for there were two tracks leading from this doorway. Then I 

 followed them to a third humble entrance, not far off, where the 

 tracks were so numerous that I lost the trail. It was pleasing 

 to see the evidence of their morning sociability written there 

 upon the new snow." 



In Manitoba the common species appears above ground spring 

 about the first or second week of April, that is, as soon as warm 

 weather has surely set in. The regularity with which the 

 Chipmunks appear, with the first soft wind of spring, sets me 

 wondering sometimes whether there is not something more than 

 mere verbiage in the phrase, ''vernal influence." Snug in their 

 deep, dark abode, far beyond reach of sun or frost, they cannot 

 be reached or touched by mere temperature, nor can it be that 

 they appear at a set time, as some of our winter-sleepers are 

 said to do. No! They must come forth on the very day when 

 first the very spring is in the land. A Chipmunk announces 

 its return to sunlight in a manner worthy of a bird. Mounted 

 on some log or root it reiterates a loud chirpy ''chuck-chuck- 

 chuck." Other Chipmunks run from their holes, for they 

 awaken almost in a body, they run forth into the sunlight, and, 

 seeking some perch, add their ''chuck-chuck-chuck'' to the 

 spring salute. So the glad news spreads from point to point, 

 from stone-pile and log-heap, to brush-heap and fence, sum- 

 moning all the race to come forth and take part in the national 

 rejoicing. 



This jubilant method of receiving the spring-time I have 

 seen only in the eastern part of America, for the good reason 

 that I never happened to be in the forest regions of Manitoba 

 when the event should take place, but I am told by many that 

 in our province the big Chipmunk fully maintains the tradition 

 of its family. 



