Chipmunk 



next as he disappeared. The hawk vanished among the trees and 

 evidently succeeded in deceiving the squirrels into thinking th;i< 

 he had betaken himself to other hunting grounds, for after per- 

 haps ten minutes of anxious shouting between neighbouring door- 

 ways they quieted down and resumed the interrupted course of 

 their affairs; some of them searching about in the short grass 

 for beechnuts dropped by the jays, while others started on longer 

 excursions through the woods and a few of the younger ones 

 began playing together among the last year's leaves beside the 

 wall. 



But one or two took prominent positions on the highest 

 stones of the wall as if standing sentinel, and at pretty regular 

 intervals called a warning to the others, or perhaps it was the 

 cry of "All's well," for by this time even the jays appeared to 

 have forgotten the danger and were chuckling and squealing 

 among themselves as they gathered beechnuts overhead. 



None of them apparently paid any attention to the angry 

 stuttering of a red squirrel in a great oak, and 1 am inclined to 

 believe that red squirrels, like the shepherd boy in the fable, have so 

 often cried wolf without cause that the other wood-dwellers have 

 learned to distrust them. 



But this one evidently knew what he was about and a sudden 

 hysterical explosion in the midst of his clamour and then silence was 

 followed by the reappearance of the hawk from his ambush among 

 the oak leaves dashing this way and that after the scattering chip- 

 munks. He failed, however, as before in each attempt, and, as if 

 mistrusting that the red squirrel might be the cause of all his ill luck, 

 rose in the air and rushed headlong at him as he clung to the under 

 side of the branch. There was a short and very exciting chase 

 before the squirrel succeeded in reaching the safety of his hole and the 

 hawk flapped away disappointed. 



The winter hibernation of the chipmunk is much like that 

 of the dormouse of the Old World, though unlike the dormouse 

 and most other hibernating animals, chipmunks are seldom more 

 than comfortably fat on retiring in the autumn. 



As several weeks are generally believed to elapse before the 

 final sleep of winter overtakes them, it is quite probable that 

 they occupy themselves in the meantime with acquiring a suf- 

 ficient amount of fat to carry them on until spring. 



In April and May chipmunks are pretty sure to be out in 



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