THE CHIPMUNK. 59 



vance and resumed their hibernating slumbers, becoming 

 lethargic and very difficult to arouse. A pair that I dug 

 out in March, having two days before re-entered their 

 winter quarters and become quite torpid, were apparently 

 lifeless when first taken up in the hands, and it was not 

 until after several hours' warming that they became lively, 

 and altogether like themselves. This seemed to me the 

 more curious, in that they can respond to a favorable 

 change in the weather in a short time, even when the ther- 

 mometric change is really but a few degrees. 



On the 3d of May a pair of chipmunks made their 

 appearance in the yard of my home, and took up their 

 abode in a stone wall with a southern outlook, on the 

 brow of a steep descent of over seventy feet. This hill- 

 side or terrace-front is thickly wooded, and harbors scores 

 of these creatures, as well as many other small mammals. 

 From the fact that the subterranean homes of these ani- 

 mals are said to be quite elaborate in structure, I deter- 

 mined to wait until the pair in the yard had completed 

 their excavations in and under the stone wall, and ar- 

 ranged their nest, and then to open and expose the nest 

 and its approaches of another pair, which was more ac- 

 cessible, and commenced at the same time. This I did 

 on May 29th, and without difficulty determined the gen- 

 eral character of the nest and its two entrances. The 

 burrow contained five young, about three days old. The 

 two entrances were at the foot of a large beech -tree, 

 standing about six feet from the brow of the hill. A 

 little grass only grew about the tree, and the holes at the 

 surface of the ground were very conspicuous. No at- 

 tempt at concealment had been made ; but this was evi- 

 dently because there were here, at this time, but few of 

 their many enemies. Indeed, I was inclined to believe 

 that there were no weasels about, and these are the most 



