168 HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



itself a home, which you will generally find near fences or 

 dead stumps and trunks, or under a pile of brush. But as 

 the chipmunk is too weak to defend himself against his 

 many enemies, he has learned to dig into the ground with 

 his feet and make himself a snug little cave, where he is 

 protected against the cold of winter and also from most 

 of his enemies. 



There are generally two entrances to the nest, and you 

 will soon understand why the chipmunk should prefer two 

 doors to one. The nest is very well described by Charles C. 

 Abbott, 1 whose words are here quoted, with sojne omissions : 

 " The two entrances were at the foot of a large beech tree. 

 A little grass only grew about the tree, and the holes at the 

 surface of the ground were very conspicuous. No attempt 

 at concealment had been made ; but this was evidently 

 because there were here, at this time, but few of their many 

 enemies. The right-hand entrance to the nest proper was 

 nine feet distant from the opening at the foot of the tree ; 

 but as the passage had a somewhat tortuous course, the 

 tunnel was really about twelve feet long. The nest proper 

 was about twenty inches in length, and perhaps a foot in 

 height. It was lined with fine grass. I had hoped to find 

 more than two passages to the nest and extra cavities or 

 granaries, but there were no traces of them. These supple- 

 mentary burrowings, or ' storehouses,' I believe now are 

 made quite late in the summer, and are additions to their 

 main burrows, made when it becomes necessary for them to 

 commence storing up their winter supply of food." 



Observations. Flowers of wild mustard, milkweed, and other common 

 field weeds. 



1 This and other quotations from the same author are taken from 

 Charles C. Abbott's Rambles of a Naturalist about Home, by per- 

 mission of the publishers, D. Appleton & Co., New York. 



