148 THE CHIPMUNK 



would see him coming back, always keeping 

 rigidly to the course he took going out, pausing 

 at the same spots, darting over or under the 

 same objects, clearing at a bound the same pile 

 of leaves. There was no variation in his man- 

 ner of proceeding all the time I observed him. 



He was alert, cautious, and exceedingly 

 methodical. He had found safety in a certain 

 course, and he did not at any time deviate a 

 hair's breadth from it. Something seemed to 

 say to him all the time, "Beware, beware!" 

 The nervous, impetuous ways of these creatures 

 are no doubt the result of the life of fear which 

 they lead. 



My chipmunk had no companion. He lived 

 all by himself in true hermit fashion, as is usu- 

 ally the case with this squirrel. Provident 

 creature that he is, one would think that he 

 would long ago have discovered that heat, and 

 therefore food, is economized by two or three 

 nesting together. 



One day in early spring a chipmunk that lived 

 near me met with a terrible adventure, the mem- 

 ory of which Avill probably be handed down 

 through many generations of its family. I was 

 sitting in the summer-house with oSTig the cat 

 upon my knee, when the chipmunk came out of 

 its den a few feet away, and ran quickly to a pile 

 of chestnut posts about twenty yards from where 

 I sat. Nig saw it and was off my lap upon 

 the floor in an instant. I spoke sharply to the 

 cat, when she sat down and folded her paws 

 under her, and regarded the squirrel, as I 



