548 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



the Rocky Mountains, Cascades, and Sierra 

 Nevada. Although commonly known as a chip- 

 munk, this handsome animal is a ground squir- 

 rel, or spermophile, distinguished from all its 

 kind by heavy stripes, resembling those of a 

 chipmunk, along the sides of its back. From 

 the chipmunks it may be distinguished at a 

 glance by its thick-set and often almost obese 

 proportions, which render its movements much 

 slower and less graceful than they are with 

 those nimble sprites. It occurs from north- 

 eastern British Columbia to New Mexico, 

 southern California, and even in an area in the 

 high Sierra Madre of southern Chihuahua, 

 where an isolated representative occupies a 

 limited range. 



Their vertical distribution extends from a 

 moderate elevation above the sea in Oregon to 

 above 11,000 feet in southern California. They 

 are common in the Yellowstone and other 

 national parks, where their size, bright mark- 

 ings, and activities render them conspicuous. 



Everywhere their habits resemble those oi 

 the' various species of true chipmunks with 

 which they associate. They live in burrows, 

 which they dig under the shelter of logs, rocks, 

 stumps, roots of trees, or even in open ground, 

 as well as m the ready-made shelter of rock 

 slides, with conies, at timberline. Their burrows 

 at times have several entrances within a small 

 area. Often they occupy the burrows of other 

 animals, including pocket gophers. They ex- 

 cavate burrows under cabins or barns in clear- 

 ings, and abandoned mining camps or old saw- 

 mill sites frequently abound with them. Nests 

 and storage chambers are excavated off the 

 passageways. The nests are usually made of 

 leaves and other soft vegetable material, but 

 in the sheep country wool, which they find in 

 scattered tufts, is often used. 



A camping party in their haunts is certain 

 to attract them, and, as about barns, it is neces- 

 sary to keep a watchful eye on them to prevent 

 their robbing grain sacks or other supplies. 

 When they once locate an accessible supply of 

 grain their industry is remarkable. I have 

 seen a dozen or more working throughout the 

 day, making continuous hurried trips, with 

 loaded cheek pouches, to their dens, sometimes 

 two hundred yards away. On approach of 

 autumn they become continually active, gather- 

 ing their winter supplies. 



The length of their hibernation varies with 

 the severity of the climate, but is rarely under 

 five months. It is said to run through seven 

 months on the higher mountains of southern 

 California. They usually go into winter 

 quarters in September or early in October, but 

 occasionally one may be seen out as late as 

 December. At this time they have become so 

 fat that their movements are very sluggish. 

 One kept as a pet for eleven years at Klamath 

 Falls, Oregon, is reported to have hibernated 

 regularly each winter. In Montana they retire 

 to their dens in September and come out in 

 IMarch. They mate soon after they appear in 

 spring and the young, four to seven in number, 

 are half grown the last of May. 



Like true chipmunks, these spermophiles are 

 fond of weedy clearings or other openings in 

 the forest, where stumps, logs, rocks, and old 

 fences offer plentiful shelter and many elevated 

 vantage points where they may sit by the hour 

 watching the doings of their small world. 

 They have a sharp whistling or chirping call 

 note, usually uttered as a warning cry, but 

 sometimes as a social call. They do not like 

 gloomy or stormy weather and generally lie 

 hidden at such times, but on sunny days are 

 so actively engaged in foraging, running along 

 the tops of logs, or perching on the tops of 

 stumps and large rocks that they add greatly 

 to the pleasant animation of the forests where 

 they live. When running they usually carry 

 the tail elevated like a chipmunk. 



They sun themselves for hours on elevated 

 points, sometimes lying quiescent and again 

 sitting bolt upright, but always watchful and 

 ready to disappear at the slightest alarm. This 

 watchfulness is necessary, for their enemies are 

 abroad at all hours. They are the prey of 

 bobcats, foxes, coyotes, weasels, snakes, and 

 hawks. 



The golden chipmunk and its related sub- 

 species are omnivorous feeders. They show a 

 strong predilection for bacon when looting 

 camp stores and eat any kind of meat with 

 avidity. Young birds and birds' eggs are de- 

 voured whenever found, as are also grasshop- 

 pers, beetles, flies, larvse, and many other in- 

 sects. The number of kinds of seeds eaten is 

 almost endless and includes chinquapin and pine 

 nuts, rhus, alfileria, violet, lupine, ceanothus, 

 and others. They also eat roses and other 

 flowers, green leaves, wild currants, goose- 

 berries and other fruit, and small tuberous 

 roots. They often climb bushes and low trees, 

 at least 30 feet from the ground, after nuts 

 and berries. The capacity of their cheek 

 pouches is shown by one instance, when one 

 animal was loaded with 750 serviceberry seeds. 

 The pouches of another contained 360 grains 

 of barley, another 357 of oats. Bold and per- 

 sistent camp robbers, their depredations cover 

 all articles of food, including bread and cake, 

 and they sometimes do considerable injury to 

 small mountain grain fields. 



I had the pleasure of living in the mountains 

 of New Mexico and Arizona for several years 

 where these attractive ground squirrels were 

 numerous, and vividly remember them as 

 among the most interesting of the woodland 

 folk. Their friendliness about forest cabins is 

 notable and with a little encouragement they 

 become extremely confiding and amusing vis- 

 itors. 



The young are playful, pursuing one another 

 in apparent games of "tag" over rocks, stumps, 

 and logs. When partly grown they have all 

 the heedlessness of youth and on one occasion 

 an observer saw the mother repeatedly push 

 the young back into crevices in a rock slide 

 with' her front feet, as they persisted in trying 

 to come out to look at the strange intruder 

 in their haunts. 



