125, 



AN ACCOUNT WITH NATURE 



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Here he climbed a post and continued after me by way! w ., 

 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'v 

 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 c 'v/ 

 know. As late as August they all seemed to be<X 

 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 V' 

 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 manv trips they made between this crib and 



rf 



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