MISCHIEF MAKERS 361 



jerky ; his coat is brown aiul yellow, with black and light 

 stripes running the long way of him. His tail is rather 

 thin, and I know he's got cheek pockets, because I've 

 seen tliem puffed out so full he couldn't speak, and that 

 one by the hammock is as friendly as a Catbird." 



" Good ! " cried the Doctor, while the others clapped 

 their hands. " You have given us an excellent snap- 

 shot picture of his Munkship. If you could look into 

 that hole under the spruce, 3'ou would see that there are 

 mau}^ little passages and storerooms running this way 

 and that, fi'om the bedroom where the Chipmunk is 

 probably sleeping soundly at this moment. They have 

 tliin fur, like the Flying Scpiirrel, and dread the cold so 

 much that they hole up early and never even peep out 

 until March ; so if you ever see a small Squirrel frisking 

 over the snow, you will know that it is a Red Squirrel 

 and not a Chipmunk, without looking for his stripes. 

 They also cache food in different places, like the Gray 

 Squirrel, and nest often in old stumps or under stone 

 fences. They eat all sorts of seeds, from weed seeds to 

 cherry pits, some insects, and they also, I am sorry to 

 say, suck birds' eggs. 



" Only this summer. Dodo, I saw your pet sitting 

 near the liammock holding a Robin's ^gg carefully in 

 liis hands, wliile lie was slowly sucking egg-nog out of 

 its beautifully tinted cup. A book, and a big one at 

 that, could be written about the Chipmunk's interesting 

 ways, but we must leave him to glance at the pictures 

 of two of his vagabond kin, of tlie Spermophile branch 

 of the house, that bother tlie farmers of the plains and 

 prairies, one even scrambling among the ledges of the 

 Rocky ^Mountains. 



