Common Chipmunk 361 



found the burrows of small rodents so plugged when I was after 

 them. I am satisfied that it was done by themselves, and that 

 it is a deliberate attempt to baffle an enemy by hiding from him. 

 It is very certain that if not foiled by some such expedient a 

 Weasel on entering the labyrinth of a colony could easily 

 follow his bent — hunting down and killing every member of 

 the community before he moved to fresh fields of carnage. 



That he does so at times is attested by the following from 

 the pen of Bachman:^" 



*'We once observed one pursue a Chipping Squirrel into 

 its burrow; after an interval often minutes it reappeared, lick- 

 ing its mouth, and stroking its fur with its head by the aid of 

 its long neck. We watched it as it pursued its way through a 

 buckwheat field, in which many roots and stumps were yet 

 remaining, evidently in quest of additional victims. On the 

 following day we were impelled by curiosity to open the burrow 

 we had seen it enter. There we found an old female Ground- 

 squirrel and five young, half grown, lying dead, with the 

 marks of the Weasel's teeth in their skulls." 



I have not seen a case of the parasitic cuterebra or warble 

 in the species, yet I should be surprised to find it immune when 

 most of its relatives are afflicted by this pest. 



Toward the end of October in Southern Ontario and h.\bits 



IN 



Connecticut, and in September in Manitoba, the Chipmunks autumn 

 vary their labours of storing food by a musical outburst that 

 closely resembles the chorus of spring. When the morning is 

 bright and warm some lusty fellow gets up on a perch and 

 begins to ''chuck-chuck-chuck'' If psychologically well timed, 

 his invitation at once provokes abundant and rapturous 

 response. Every Chipmunk mounts his perch, and they make 

 the woods ring for several minutes with their united voices. 



We must remember that the winter is a period of perpetual 

 sleep to them; they are practically dead from October to 

 March. This autumn outburst of song then is but a few ac- 



=« Q. N. A., 1849, Vol. I, p. 72. 



