1936] 



MAMMALS OF OREGON 



133 



EUTAMIAS AMOENUS AMOENUS (ALLEN) 

 KLAMATH CHIPMUNK; WAS-LA of the Klamath (C. H. M.) 



Tamias amoenus Allen, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull. 3 : 90, 1890. 

 Eutamias amoenus propinquus Anthony, Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. Bull. 32: 6, 

 1913. Type from Ironside, Oreg. 



Type. Collected at Fort Klamath, Oreg., by J. H. Merrill in 1887. 



General characters. A small, richly colored chipmunk, with slender tail, 

 pointed ears, and nine stripes on the back (pi. 27, B). Summer pelage: Back 

 with 3 black, 2 brown, 2 gray, and 2 white stripes ; sides of head with 3 dark 

 and 2 white stripes; sides, shoulders, and lower surface of tail rich rufous or 

 orange brown ; top and margins of tail black, overlaid with buffy brown ; back 

 of ears mainly black; belly whitish or slightly ochraceous. Winter pelage: 

 Slightly duller and more grayish. Young as in summer adults. 



Measurements. Total length, 197 mm; tail, 84; foot, 31; ear (dry), from 

 notch, 13.8. 



Distribution and habitat. These little chipmunks cover most of 

 Oregon east of the Cascades, a large part of northeastern California 

 and central Idaho (fig. 22). They do not occur in the open plains 



country of the Columbia 



River Valley, nor the 

 sagebrush valleys of 

 southeastern Oregon, and 

 are replaced by the yel- 

 low-bellied subspecies hi,- 

 teiventris in the northern 

 part of the Blue Moun- 

 tain plateau. 



They range through 

 Transition and Canadian 

 Zones, mainly in open- 

 forest country and often 

 out over the rocks and 

 brush beyond the edge of 

 the forest, but never far 

 into the open valleys or 

 sagebrush plains. 



A specimen in the United States National Museum collection taken 

 by J. K. Townsend, probably in 1834, and labeled " Columbia River, 

 Oregon ", apparently came from the vicinity of The Dalles, 



General habits. While expert climbers, often seen running up 

 trees, Klamath chipmunks generally are found on the ground running 

 over logs and rocks or climbing about in the bushes. Their homes 

 are generally underground, in hollow logs, or in clefts of the rocks, 

 and from these the chipmunks range out for considerable distance, 

 keeping close to safe cover above or below the ground. Their bright 

 colors are often seen flashing through the leaves or bushes and their 

 shrill chipper of alarm or curiosity is heard along the trails. Some- 

 times a slow, soft chuck, chuck, chuck is heard from a distance as 

 one sits on a stump, log, or low tree branch a chipmunk calling 

 quietly to his friends far and near. Their voices have many degrees 

 of pitch, time, and quality that may mean much to members of their 

 own clan, but little to uninitiated ears. 



FIGURE 22. Range of four chipmunks of the amoe- 

 nus group in Oregon : 1, Eutamias amoenus amoc- 

 nus; 2, E. a. luteiventris ; 3, E. o. ludibundus; 4, 

 E. a. ochraceus. Type locality circled. 



