AN ACCOUNT WITH NATURE 125 



Here he climbed a post and continued after me by way 

 of the middle strand of the wire, wriggling, twisting, 

 even grabbing the barbs, in his efforts to maintain 

 his balance. He got midway between the posts, when 

 the sagging strand tripped him and he fell with a 

 splash into a shallow pool below. No, he did not 

 drown, but his curiosity did get a ducking. 



Did the family in the orchard wall stay together 

 as a family for the first summer ? I should like to 

 know. As late as August they all seemed to be 

 in the wall ; for in August I cut my oats, and during 

 this harvest we all worked together. 



I mowed the oats as soon as they began to yellow, 

 cocking them to cure for hay. It was necessary to 

 let them " make " for six or seven days, and all this 

 time the chipmunks raced back and forth between 

 the cocks and the stone wall. They might have 

 hidden their gleanings in a dozen crannies nearer at 

 hand; but evidently they had a particular store- 

 house, near the home nest, where the family could 

 get at their provisions in bad weather without com- 

 ing forth. 



Had I removed the stones and dug out the nest, 

 I should have found a tunnel leading into the ground 

 for a few feet and opening into a chamber filled with 

 a bulky grass nest a bed capable of holding half 

 a dozen chipmunks and, adjoining this, by a short 

 passageway, the storehouse of the oats. 



How many trips they made between this crib and 



