Chipmunk 



drying out around the stumps of long-forgotten pines. In 

 a way they are hunters, too; I have seen them chasing 

 the big, noisy, banded-winged locusts of late summer, running 

 beneath them, as they fly along and pouncing on them when 

 they finally come to earth. One of these big fellows must make 

 a very satisfactory luncheon for an animal no larger than a chip> 

 munk, everything being eaten but the wings and the extremities 

 of the legs. 



Like most rodents, they are a little too fond of robbing 

 birds' nests; I am inclined to think, however, that they are less 

 destructive in this direction than either squirrels or mice. I once 

 watched a pair of them stalking some spotted sandpipers by the 

 edge of a mill pond. They would creep up under cover of the 

 water weed, or lie in ambush behind dried wood or a lily pad 

 standing aslant in the mud; when they fancied themselves near 

 enough they would rush out, sometimes both together, and the 

 frightened sandpipers would open their long wings and lose some 

 critical moments in getting their balance, and then take their 

 stiff-winged flight low over the water with anxious whistlings. 



The chipmunks were so active and determined about it all 

 that, seeing them from the other bank, I at first mistook them 

 for weasels. The sandpipers at last betook themselves away up 

 stream to the meadows to be rid of the nuisance. 



June 5th, 1900, I have just been examining the chipmunk 

 holes on the hill in the pasture. They are, evidently enough, 

 all constructed in about the same manner, the chief object in 

 view being concealment. All agree in having the opening no- 

 ticeably smaller than the rest of the tunnel. The short, thick grass 

 around it is green and untrampled to the very edge, and though 

 scarcely an inch in length, pretty well conceals the narrow door- 

 way. There is not the least particle of loose dirt scattered any- 

 where about. 



The turf at the mouth of the burrow is soft and elastic, 

 but at the depth of an inch the hole becomes suddenly larger, 

 I should say at least twice as large as at the opening, and the 

 walls are packed surprisingly hard. 



At a considerable distance, under the low-growing branches 

 of some young pines, I found a little pile of newly-dug earth, 

 something over a foot in diameter and two or three inches high. 

 Yellow subsoil undoubtedly brought there as fast as it was dug 



167 



