NATURE'S CALENDAR 



roots of a tree, or beneath a brush heap 

 or pile of loose rocks. The same is true, 

 in their ways, of the flying squirrels and 

 ■of most of the wild mice ; but though the 

 chipmunk lays up an enormous store of 

 nuts and other food in his tunnelled 

 chamber deep underground, he comes 

 out on warm days, now and then, to get 

 a bite of fresh fare. 



" The wild or nativ^e mice," writes John 

 Burroughs, "lay up stores in the fall in 

 the shape of various nuts, grain, and 

 seeds, yet the provident instinct, as in 

 the red squirrel and in the jay, seems 

 •only partly developed in them; instead 

 of carrying these supplies home, they 

 hide them in the nearest convenient 

 place. I have known them to carry a 

 pint or more of hickory-nuts and deposit 

 them in a pair of boots standing in the 

 ■chamber of an out-house. Near the 

 ■chestnut-trees they will fill little pocket- 

 like depressions in the ground with chest- 

 nuts; in a grain-field they carry the grain 

 under stones; under some cover beneath 

 clierry-trees they collect great numbers 

 of cherry-pits. Hence, when cold weather 

 ■comes, instead of staying at home like 

 the chipmunk, they gad about hither and 

 thither looking up their supplies. One 

 may see their tracks on the snow ev^ery- 

 where in the fields and by the roadside. 

 The advantage of this way of living is 

 that it leads to activity, and probably to 

 sociability. ... They link tree and 



February 20 



February 21 



