Common Chipmunk 359 



it. I was the more confirmed in this supposition by the shaking 

 of the plant. Presently, however, he became comparatively 

 quiet. In this state he remained, possibly half a minute. He 

 then commenced a vigorous action, as if digging deeper; but 

 I noticed that he did not get deeper; on the contrary, he was 

 gradually backing out. I was surprised that, in all his appar- 

 ent hard work (he worked like a man on a wager), he threw 

 back no dirt. But this vigorous labour could not last long. 

 He was very soon completely above ground, and then became 

 manifest the object of his earnest work; he was refilling the 

 hole he had made, and repacking the dirt and leaves he had 

 disturbed. Nor was he content with simply refilling and re- 

 packing the hole. With his two little hand-like feet he patted 

 the surface, and so exactly replaced the leaves that, when he had 

 completed the task, my eye could detect not the slightest difi^er- 

 ence between the surface he had so cunningly manipulated and 

 that surrounding it. Having completed his task, he raised 

 himself into a sitting posture, looked with a very satisfied air, 

 and then silently dodged off into a bush-heap, some ten feet 

 distant. Here he ventured to stop and set up a triumphant 

 'chip, chip, chip.' 



*' It was now my turn to dig, in order to discover the little 

 miser's treasures. I gently removed enough of the leaves and 

 fine muck to expose his hoard — half a pint of buttercup seeds, 

 Ranunculus acris." 



I think, however, that Kennicott was right in holding the 

 view that these little caches are for temporary use; long before 

 winter all the Chipmunk's stores are doubtless contained in 

 one or two granaries. The Illinois naturalist thus comments:-^ 



"The quantity of nuts, acorns, and seeds sometimes col- 

 lected by these industrious little fellows is astonishing. They 

 are frequently stored temporarily under logs, and in shallow 

 holes under roots of trees, and afterward removed to the 

 burrow at a more leisure season. I have known lazy people 

 to watch the Chipmunks in nutting time, and finding where 

 they carried their stores, dig them out, saying they could 



**Quad. Ill, 1857, p. 72. 



