MAMMALS OF THE MEXICAN BOUNDARY, 287 



ground squirrel {Callos'permophilus lateralis) was the most abuiuTant, 

 but there was (juite an army of Arizona chipmunks. They pilhiged 

 our tents and mess outfit, and even climbed into the nose bags for 

 the horses' grain, frightening some of the animals into breaking their 

 halters. 



Their homes are made in burrows in old logs and in the ground be- 

 neath stones, logs, and roots of trees. The young, three to five in 

 number, are brought forth in nests of dry grass and similar material, 

 placed at the end of their burrows. The period of bearing varies 

 somewhat according to altitude, but is well covered by the months of 

 June and July. In the early part of June they were observed carry- 

 ing immense loads of dry grass into their burrows, in the San Fran- 

 cisco Forest ; and very young ones were running about in great num- 

 bers in the vicinity of Bakers Butte by the middle of July. 



During the summer the Arizona chipmunk feeds quite extensively 

 upon green herbage and the seeds of small ])lants, chiefl}^ legumes; 

 but, like most squirrels, it is fond of an occasional change from 

 vegetable to animal diet. At Fern Spring they entered our kitchen 

 tent and devoured our bacon; and I soon discovered in fat salt pork 

 a bait so tempting that it never failed to allure them into a trap. 



So little attention is at present paid to agriculture in the region 

 occui^ied b}^ this squirrel that its interests have not thus far been 

 materially affected ; and it is such a clever, pleasant little mammal 

 that its petty pilferings about the cabins and the damage to cereal 

 and other products, which may be expected from it in the future, 

 ought to be forgiven. 



The voice of this chipmunk resembles somewhat that of the com- 

 mon eastern chipmunk {Tamias striatus). It chippers in the same 

 excited way when startled, and chirrups and clucks as it watches you 

 from the top of its favorite log. 



Mr. Edward D. Tuttle, clerk of Graham County, writing from 

 Solomonville, Arizona, March 21, 1889, speaks of the abundance of 

 chipmunks in the mountains of the Graham Kange, which may have 

 been the present species, as E. dorsalis would scarcely be found there. 



